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

The sports betting wagering ballot 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 allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city 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 authorize sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up huge for their preferred 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 approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

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

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly 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 group (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the ballot measure, will likely utilize its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their respective books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will launch 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 organizations were amongst the most prominent supporters of the tally step.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to anticipate other leading national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market gain access to.

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most 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 step permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as wagering kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally step requires the first licensed 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, perennially books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

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

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In many other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed home.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering deal with market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, but 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 minor lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of countless predicted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that currently spends billions on education every year.