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

The sports betting wagering ballot step gone by a slim majority early Wednesday early 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 metro 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 approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best 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 expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax income to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, devoted, irreversible funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next actions

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

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will certainly use 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 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 likewise 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 six licenses are scheduled 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 popular proponents of the tally measure.

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

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
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 tally measure enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot step needs the very first licensed 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 background

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

Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the measure. In most other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved at least one license per handled home.

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting manage market share, could potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot measure would appear to favor the two national market leaders.

Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were strengthened by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio ads focused on the income legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education yearly.