Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing managed books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering tally step passed by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of 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 sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has a few of the best sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared huge 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 professional sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting wagering next actions
Voter approval indicates as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).
Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely launch their respective books.
The other 3 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 professional 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 among the most prominent proponents of the tally step.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors ought to expect other leading nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.
Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's ballot measure allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering choices such as sports betting 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 places. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot procedure requires 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, perennially books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the measure from among the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the procedure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.
In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open additional internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, might possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would seem to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were strengthened by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the advocates' ads were deceptive and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.
