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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri enable 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 approve legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they showed up huge for their favorite groups 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 important tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

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

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

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot step, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely introduce their respective books.

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

The staying 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major expert 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 amongst the most popular advocates of the tally measure.

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

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting:

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

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

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

The language around the tally procedure requires the very 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, continually books' most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting project comes despite millions in financing opposing the measure from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the procedure. In most other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given at least 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 only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional internal books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge 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 competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot measure would seem 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 tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were deceptive and the 10s of countless predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education annually.