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

The sports betting ballot measure gone by a slim bulk 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 locations with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to approve 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 very best sports betting fans worldwide and they showed up huge for their favorite teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax income to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval suggests approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed 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 two "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their respective books.

The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining six licenses are reserved for each of the major professional sports betting groups 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 advocates of the tally procedure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors ought to expect other leading nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:

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

Missouri's tally step enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

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

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

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting project comes despite millions in funding opposing the step from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars invested millions of dollars to beat the step. In many 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 managed property.

Because circumstance 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 additional in-house books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering deal with market share, could potentially have a leg up on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally measure would appear to prefer the two national market leaders.

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

A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were deceptive and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently invests billions on education every year.