Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing managed books to take bets next year.

The sports betting ballot measure passed by a slim bulk 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 divided 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 sports betting. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans on the planet 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 six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and ensures we no longer lose important tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, dedicated, long-term funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval means up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).

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

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

The remaining 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major expert 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 organizations were amongst the most prominent advocates of the tally measure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers should expect other prominent national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility 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, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's ballot step enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the ballot step needs the very first certified 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 rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting project comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the measure from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the measure. In most other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given a minimum of one license per managed residential or commercial property.

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, farm out 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 deal with market share, might possibly have a leg up on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot step would seem to favor the 2 national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were reinforced by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the 10s of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.