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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas 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 approve sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the best sports betting fans worldwide and they showed up huge for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic 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 significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a brand-new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably use 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 casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally procedure, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their particular books.

The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant expert 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 companies were among the most prominent supporters of the tally step.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to expect other prominent national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

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 enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the ballot step needs the 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, perennially books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the procedure from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In most other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved at least one license per managed home.

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least three possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra in-house books or, more typically, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting handle market share, could potentially have an upper hand on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were reinforced by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were deceptive and the 10s of countless predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education yearly.