Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, permitting controlled books to take bets next year.

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

Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of 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 wagering. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they showed up huge for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional 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 legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed 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 fee).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally step, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles 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 remains unclear if they will release mobile sportsbooks.

The staying six licenses are scheduled 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 popular advocates of the tally measure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors should anticipate other leading nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting wagering:

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 ballot procedure allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering choices 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 measure requires the first certified sportsbooks to begin 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 profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the procedure from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars invested countless dollars to defeat the measure. In many other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given a minimum of one license per managed residential or commercial property.

In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least three 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 additional in-house books or, more frequently, 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 handle market share, could potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally step would appear to prefer the 2 national market leaders.

Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were reinforced 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 mostly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently spends billions on education annually.