Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering tally measure passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city 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 finest sports betting fans in the world and they appeared huge for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "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 legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval indicates approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying charge).
Six licenses are offered to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot measure, 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 introduce their particular books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant expert sports betting teams 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 companies were among the most popular supporters of the tally procedure.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers should expect other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
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 procedure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting options such as wagering kiosks and possibly devoted, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing locations. 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 tally procedure needs the very first certified 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, continually books' most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting project comes despite millions in funding opposing the procedure from among the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the measure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per managed home.
Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra in-house books or, more typically, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting manage market share, might possibly have a leg up on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot procedure would appear to favor the two national 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 tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were deceptive and the 10s of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.
