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

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

Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri allow 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 authorize sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans on the planet and they showed up big for their favorite 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 important tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, long-term funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval implies as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.

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

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the ballot procedure, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages 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 unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are reserved for each of the significant expert sports betting groups 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 popular advocates of the ballot step.

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

Launch probability 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 procedure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot procedure requires the 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 financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes despite millions in funding opposing the measure from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

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

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, farm out 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 handle market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, but the language around the tally measure would seem to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.

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

A series of tv and radio ads focused on the income legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already invests billions on education annually.