Share 
FanDuel has joined its sports betting rival, DraftKings, in applying for one of the two untethered sports betting licenses in Missouri.
A Missouri Gaming Commission spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that FanDuel applied for the untethered license, which allows an operator to run a mobile sportsbook without an affiliation to either a professional sports team or one of the state’s 13 casinos.
The deadline to apply for those licenses is next week, July 15.
Underdog actually seeking a tethered license
The remaining 31 Missouri sports betting licenses –19 retail and 12 mobile – are tethered, meaning licensees must be partnered with a sports team or a casino in the state.
The deadline to apply for a tethered license is Sept. 12. Sports betting is set to launch on Dec. 1.
Missourians narrowly approved an amendment to the state constitution last November to legalize sports betting. Several past attempts by lawmakers to make sports betting legal all failed.
Also on Wednesday, the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) clarified that Underdog, the daily fantasy sports operator currently running a sportsbook in North Carolina, actually applied for a tethered license, not an untethered one as previously reported.
It’s unclear how the company plans to fulfill the tethered license requirement, as it is not currently partnered with one of the six recognized professional sports teams or one of the 13 riverboat casinos in the state.
In April, Underdog did announce a DFS partnership with the United Football League, a fledgling football league that includes a team from Missouri, the St. Louis Battlehawks.
FanDuel’s dominance in surrounding states
Though FanDuel is applying for an untethered license, it does have an existing relationship with Boyd Gaming, which operates the Ameristar casinos in Kansas City and St. Charles. That suggests FanDuel might also seek a tethered license.
A few months ago, the MGC made a point to inform operators that they could hold both types of licenses.
FanDuel also operates mobile sportsbooks in states adjacent to Missouri.
In Illinois, FanDuel and DraftKings dominate the sports betting market, but they both pay a high price for it. They are charged the highest tax rate, 40%, and now must pay a 50-cent per-bet tax on top of that after a law was recently enacted in the state. Because of that, the two placed a 50-cent surcharge on bets through them.
FanDuel and DraftKings also dominate the sports betting market in Missouri’s neighbor to the west, Kansas.
