Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting tally step passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri enable 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 appeared huge for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we want 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 wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded 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 two "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally procedure, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their particular books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The staying six licenses are reserved for each of the significant expert sports betting teams 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 amongst the most prominent supporters of the tally measure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers must expect other prominent national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly 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 measure permits 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 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 adjacent to their respective home playing locations. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally step needs 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, continually books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The effective Missouri sports betting project comes despite millions in financing opposing the measure from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given at least one license per handled property.
In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least three potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open additional internal books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a competitor 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 an upper hand on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot measure would seem to prefer the 2 national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were reinforced by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the income legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were misleading and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education every year.
