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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city 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 approve sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they showed up big for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax income to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval indicates as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

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

Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the ballot measure, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages 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 stays uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the major 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 organizations were among the most prominent advocates of the ballot step.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers ought to anticipate other prominent nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:

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 measure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting options such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot measure needs 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 profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

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

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

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open additional internal books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering manage market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the tally procedure would seem to prefer the 2 national market leaders.

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

A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless predicted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already spends billions on education yearly.