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

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

Seven of the 8 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 authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared big for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish 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 and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly 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 needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).

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

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

The staying 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major professional sports betting groups 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 companies were among the most prominent advocates of the tally step.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors should expect other prominent national brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

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

Missouri's ballot step allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing places. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally step requires 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, continually books' most profitable time of the sports calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

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

Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the procedure. In a lot of other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open additional internal books or, more typically, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering manage market share, could possibly have a leg up on their rivals by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot procedure would appear to favor the 2 national market leaders.

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

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