Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot procedure passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city 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 some of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they revealed up big for their favorite 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 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 and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting next actions
Voter approval indicates up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will undoubtedly apply 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 readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally step, will likely utilize its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release their respective books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the major professional 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 among the most prominent advocates of the ballot step.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers should anticipate other prominent nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very 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 allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as wagering kiosks and possibly 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 permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot procedure needs the very first licensed 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 profitable time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting wagering project comes despite millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars invested millions of dollars to beat the procedure. In many other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per handled home.
In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three 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 in-house books or, more typically, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering manage market share, might possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were boosted 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, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that already spends billions on education each year.
