Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, permitting managed books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot step passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of 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 this year.
" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up big for their favorite teams 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 voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax profits to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, devoted, irreversible financing stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting wagering next actions
Voter approval indicates up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses readily available 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, regardless of opposing the tally step, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely release their respective books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 licenses are booked for each of the significant professional sports betting teams 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 popular proponents of the tally step.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers ought to expect other leading national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.
Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most 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 step permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting options such as sports betting kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing locations. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally measure requires the first licensed sportsbooks to begin accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely work with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, perennially books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the procedure. In most other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.
In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 prospective licenses, one for each casino 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 commonly, farm out the license to a competitor 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, might potentially have a leg up on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would appear to favor the two national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were boosted by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the revenue legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were misleading and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.
