Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.

The sports betting wagering ballot procedure passed by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city areas with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared big for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will certainly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying charge).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot procedure, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their respective books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.

The staying six licenses are reserved for each of the significant professional sports betting groups that play home games in Missouri: MLB's Kansas City Royals and Cardinals, the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, NHL's St. Louis Blues, MLS' St. Louis City SC and the NWSL's Kansas City Current. The sports betting organizations were among the most popular advocates of the tally measure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to expect other leading nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's tally step enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot step requires the very first licensed sportsbooks to begin accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely work with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, continually books' most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting project comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the step from one of the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 prospective licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open additional internal books or, more frequently, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, could potentially have a leg up on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the two national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were misleading and the tens of countless projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently invests billions on education every year.