Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, 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 bordering Missouri permit 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 sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has some of the finest sports betting fans in the world and they appeared big for their favorite teams 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 wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax income to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, devoted, irreversible financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval suggests up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are used.

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

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino 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 launch their respective books.

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

The staying 6 licenses are scheduled for each of the significant professional sports betting groups 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 among the most popular proponents of the ballot measure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to expect other leading national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting:

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 measure allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person wagering alternatives such as wagering kiosks and possibly devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing places. 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 work with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, perennially books' most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

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

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

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 potential licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only 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 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 manage market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to favor the 2 national market leaders.

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

A series of television and radio ads focused on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were deceptive and the 10s of countless projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education annually.