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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city areas 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 a few of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they showed up huge for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose important tax income to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

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

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot step, 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 release their particular books.

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

The remaining six licenses are scheduled 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 step.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors must anticipate other leading national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very 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 tally measure allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally measure requires the very first licensed 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, continually books' most profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the step from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per handled home.

In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 3 prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra internal books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering manage market share, could potentially have a leg up on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

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

A series of television and radio ads focused on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that already spends billions on education annually.