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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city locations with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize 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 appeared big for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert 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 neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a brand-new, devoted, irreversible financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval implies approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed 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 2 "untethered" licenses available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally step, will likely utilize 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 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will release 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 proponents of the tally step.

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

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very most 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 step allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the ballot measure needs the first certified 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the step from among the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the step. In many other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment 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 competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering manage market share, might possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot measure would seem to favor the two national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were strengthened by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the income legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were misleading and the tens of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that currently spends billions on education every year.