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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro locations 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 approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared big for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's professional 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 legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose important tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, devoted, irreversible financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval implies as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).

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

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

The staying six licenses are scheduled for each of the significant 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 ballot measure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers ought to expect other prominent nationwide brand names 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
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 tally procedure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing locations. 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 procedure requires the very first certified sportsbooks to begin accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely deal 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 project comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the step from among the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the step. 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 property.

In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting deal with market share, might possibly have a leg up on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot measure would seem to favor the 2 nationwide 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 earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already invests billions on education every year.