Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, permitting regulated books to take bets next year.

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

Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro locations with Missouri, respectively.

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

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they appeared huge for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval implies approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally 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 release their particular books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.

The staying 6 licenses are reserved for each of the significant expert sports betting teams that play home video 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 prominent supporters of the tally procedure.

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

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:

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

Missouri's ballot step allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally measure needs the very first certified 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, perennially books' most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the procedure from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars invested countless dollars to defeat the measure. In many other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given at least one license per managed property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 3 prospective licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting manage market share, might possibly have an upper hand 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 procedure would seem to favor the two nationwide market leaders.

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

A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were misleading and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently spends billions on education each year.