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

The sports betting wagering ballot procedure 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 allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize 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 finest sports betting fans worldwide 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 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 legalize sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, irreversible financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

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

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will undoubtedly 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 casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their respective books.

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

The remaining six licenses are reserved for each of the major expert 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 companies were among the most popular proponents of the tally measure.

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

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

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

Missouri's ballot step allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can also 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 tally step needs the very 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, continually books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars invested countless dollars to beat the measure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per managed home.

In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional in-house books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting manage market share, might potentially have a leg up on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to favor the two nationwide market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed 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 create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.