Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting ballot measure gone by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split 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 some of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they revealed up huge for their favorite groups on Election Day,“ Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. „On behalf of all 6 of Missouri’s expert sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri class.“
Missouri sports betting wagering next actions
Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the „yes“ and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two „untethered“ licenses available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).
Six licenses are offered to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally procedure, will likely utilize its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally’s (Bally Bet) will likewise likely release their particular books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining 6 licenses are scheduled 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 prominent supporters of the tally step.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors ought to anticipate other prominent nationwide brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri’s tally measure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing places. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally measure requires 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, perennially books‘ most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The effective Missouri sports betting wagering project comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state’s biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In many other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted at least one license per handled residential or commercial property.
Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least three prospective licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra in-house books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting handle market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would seem to prefer the two nationwide market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year showed the „yes“ vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were strengthened by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the fans‘ advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless projected dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that already spends billions on education yearly.