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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city locations 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 authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared big 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 desire to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax profits to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval suggests approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely 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 2 "untethered" licenses offered without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally procedure, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages 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 uncertain if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The staying 6 licenses are reserved 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 popular proponents of the ballot procedure.

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

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most 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 gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing places. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot measure needs the first licensed sportsbooks to start 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the procedure from one of the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the step. In the majority of 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 managed home.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional in-house books or, more frequently, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering manage market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would appear to prefer 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 television and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already spends billions on education each year.