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

The sports betting ballot step passed 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 consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided 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 sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has a few of the best sports betting fans worldwide and they revealed up big for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose important tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly 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 available 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, in spite of opposing the tally measure, will likely utilize its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely launch their particular books.

The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are scheduled 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 among the most prominent proponents of the ballot procedure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to expect other prominent nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market gain access to.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters authorize 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 tally measure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as wagering kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot measure needs the very first licensed sportsbooks to start accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely work 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 effective Missouri sports betting wagering project comes despite millions in funding opposing the step from among the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In most other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is approved at least one license per handled home.

In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least three potential licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open additional in-house books or, more typically, 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 deal with market share, might potentially have a leg up on their rivals by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads focused on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the 10s of countless projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.