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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes 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 sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared big for their favorite teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish 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 and ensures we no longer lose important tax profits to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next actions

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

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).

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

The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will introduce 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 companies were amongst the most prominent advocates of the ballot step.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers should expect other leading national brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very 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 measure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as wagering kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the tally measure requires the first certified sportsbooks to start accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely deal with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, continually books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering project comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the measure from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

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

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least three possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra internal books or, more frequently, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

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

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

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