Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting managed books to take bets next year.

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize 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 a few 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 declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's expert 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 and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next steps

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

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will undoubtedly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses offered without needing 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 tally step, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles 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 remains unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.

The staying 6 licenses are scheduled for each of the significant 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 organizations were amongst the most popular advocates of the tally measure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to anticipate other leading nationwide brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:

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 tally step allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as wagering kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the tally step requires the very 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, perennially books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

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

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

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open extra internal books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting manage market share, might possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the tally step would seem to favor the two national market leaders.

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

A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already spends billions on education annually.