Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting tally procedure passed by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro 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 approve sports betting this year.
" Missouri has some of the finest sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared big 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 wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose important tax profits to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval implies as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying charge).
Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally step, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their respective books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 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 companies were amongst the most prominent advocates of the tally step.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers should expect other prominent national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's tally procedure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing places. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally step requires 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, perennially books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the measure from one of the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the step. In most other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed home.
In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open additional in-house books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering handle market share, could possibly have a leg up on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the two national market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year revealed 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 income legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education annually.
