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

The sports betting wagering ballot step 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 enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city areas with Missouri, respectively.

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

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up huge for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "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 historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose important tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly 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 readily available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying charge).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, despite 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 likewise likely release their respective books.

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

The remaining six licenses are scheduled for each of the major professional sports betting teams 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 amongst the most prominent advocates of the tally step.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers must expect other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly 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 particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 casino 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 adjacent to their particular home playing places. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot measure requires the first certified sportsbooks to start 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 rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

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

Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted at least one license per managed residential or commercial property.

In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional internal 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 wagering handle market share, could potentially have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally measure would seem to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

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

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