GeoComply Blocks 136,000 Missouri Betting Attempts For Bengals Vs. Chiefs

Written By Alec Cunningham on February 7, 2023
Chiefs Bengals Fans

Geolocation company GeoComply released new data this week concerning sportsbook engagement from Missouri. During the AFC Championship alone, Missouri bettors made 136,000 failed attempts to wager on the game.

Legislators intend to use this data to argue for legal sports betting at a Wednesday Missouri House Emerging Issues Committee meeting.

GeoComply hard at work during AFC Championship

Missouri sports betting may still be illegal, but that certainly hasn’t stopped eager bettors from attempting to wager.

New GeoComply data took a look at sportsbook engagement from Missourians since the start of NFL season, paying particular attention to data from the recent Bengals vs. Chiefs game at Missouri’s own GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

GeoComply assessed activity from those attending Arrowhead Stadium on game day, tracking the total number of sportsbook access attempts blocked in and around the stadium.

A grand total of 4,751 transactions were blocked on game day from approximately 1,550 accounts located within the stadium or in surrounding parking lots. This means bettors made an average of three attempts to place bets on game day before giving up.

In all, GeoComply blocked more than 136,000 transaction attempts from Missouri on game day alone. These geolocation checks came from attempted bets or account logins, providing a strong indicator of Missouri betting interest.

Missouri bettors head to Kansas sportsbooks for Bengals vs. Chiefs game

Those who didn’t attend the game in person had the opportunity to head across the Missouri border to wager on the AFC Championship.

Come game day, 236 bettors traveled from Missouri border towns into Kansas to access their sports betting accounts. Of those, GeoComply conducted 245 geolocation checks.

The chart’s red lines and blue dots depict geolocation activity from the same bettor — first attempting to access a sportsbook from Missouri, then crossing the border into Kansas to successfully log in. This big gameday wasn’t an anomaly for the area, said GeoComply. In fact, hundreds of similar transactions take place every day.

Missouri sportsbook engagement since start of NFL season

GeoComply has seen an increase in attempted betting traffic from Missouri since the start of NFL season. In fact, the company has blocked an astounding 8.7 million attempts from Missouri bettors looking to access a legal sportsbook between Sept. 8, 2022 and Jan. 31, 2023.

These attempts were made from over 221,000 unique player accounts.

As depicted on the map below, the majority of these attempts came from Missouri’s border cities. Specifically, they originated in Kansas City to the west and St. Louis to the east.

A number of additional location checks were attempted by those passing through Missouri’s main thoroughfares, further lending to the millions of transaction attempts seen within roughly five months’ time.

KS MO Geolocation NFL Season

Kansas, Illinois attracting attention of Missouri sports bettors

Of Missouri’s border states, only two currently offer legal sports betting — Illinois and Kansas. Kansas proved to be the hotspot for the majority of bettors, though Illinois followed close behind.

Almost half of Missouri bettors, 46.3%, attempted to access Kansas sportsbooks. Meanwhile, 39.37% of attempts made were to access Illinois sportsbooks.

GeoComply Public Affairs and Government Relations Expert John Pappas says this data highlights the importance of Missouri finally legalizing sports betting. In fact, he said, the continued delay is only proving to hinder Missouri further, meanwhile benefiting surrounding jurisdictions.

Pappas noted:

“The data shows a strong demand for legal sports betting in Missouri. When residents aren’t traveling into Kansas or Illinois to place their bets, they may be engaging with offshore, unregulated sportsbooks that have zero consumer protections and zero economic benefit for Missouri. The current prohibition only benefits neighboring states and illegal online operators. I believe 2023 must be the year that lawmakers put the interest of their constituents first and legalize and regulate sports betting.”

Kansas data highlights Missouri’s loss

Since Kansas launched its online sports betting market on Sept. 1 of last year, GeoComply has geolocated 85.7 million transactions on the state’s six legal sportsbook apps. Data shows that these Kansas transactions came from almost 532,000 unique player accounts.

During the AFC Championship game alone, these Kansas bettors logged 1.14 million geolocation transactions.

These geolocation stats speak to the sheer volume of interest surrounding legal sports betting. This data also speaks to the amount of potential revenue being forfeited by Missouri each day that sports betting continues to be illegal in the state. The vast majority of Kansas transactions throughout NFL season have come from none other than Kansas City.

Missouri lawmakers are expected to discuss this data during a Wednesday hearing on two sports betting bills.

Photo by Associated Press
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Alec Cunningham

As a college athlete, Alec Cunningham played Division II golf at Tusculum University. She graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Professional Writing. She then returned to her love of written word in 2000 after working in the music industry as a concert promoter, tour manager and artist developer. As a journalist, she's covered a variety of topics and currently specializes in Tennessee online sports betting and Virginia casino news. She served as a panelist at this year's All American Sports Betting Summit, discussing the ever-evolving role of women in the gambling industry.

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