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

The sports betting tally step passed by a slim majority early Wednesday early 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 city 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 best sports betting fans worldwide and they revealed up huge for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic 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 significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, dedicated, long-term funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval indicates approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly use 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 gambling establishment 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 procedure, will likely utilize its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their respective books.

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

The staying six licenses are booked for each of the significant 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 popular supporters of the tally step.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers ought to expect other prominent nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

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

Missouri's ballot procedure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the tally measure requires the first licensed sportsbooks to start 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 rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the procedure from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the measure. In most other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per managed residential or commercial property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional internal books or, more commonly, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting deal with market share, might possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot step would seem to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

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

A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that already invests billions on education each year.