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

The sports betting wagering ballot procedure gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro 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 this year.

" Missouri has a few of the best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up 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 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, devoted, irreversible financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

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

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without needing 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, regardless of opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release their particular books.

The other three 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 major expert 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 amongst the most popular advocates of the ballot procedure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to expect other prominent national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

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

Missouri's tally step allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and potentially devoted, 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 enable 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 financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting project comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the procedure from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the measure. In many other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given a minimum of one license per managed home.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional in-house books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot step 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 boosted by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads focused on the revenue legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently spends billions on education every year.