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

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

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

" Missouri has some of the finest sports betting fans in the world and they appeared 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 desire to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval means as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly 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 readily available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino 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 utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely launch their particular books.

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

The remaining six licenses are reserved for each of the major expert sports betting teams 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 supporters of the ballot measure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to anticipate other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens 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 tally procedure allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing venues. 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 ballot measure requires 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 successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes despite millions in funding opposing the measure from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the step. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted at least one license per handled property.

In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of 3 possible licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting deal with market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally procedure would appear to favor the 2 national market leaders.

Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were boosted by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' ads were misleading and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.