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

The sports betting wagering tally step gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday early 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 authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to approve sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans on the planet and they revealed up huge for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish 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 and guarantees we no longer lose important tax profits to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, devoted, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

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

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will certainly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally 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 launch their particular books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.

The staying six licenses are booked for each of the major 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 organizations were amongst the most prominent supporters of the ballot procedure.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers must anticipate other prominent national brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's ballot procedure enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial 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 committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their respective 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 tally measure 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 wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state's largest sports betting 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 at least one license per handled residential or commercial property.

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least three possible 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 extra internal books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting manage market share, could possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would seem 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 television and radio advertisements focused on the revenue legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the tens of countless predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education every year.