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

The sports betting tally step gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri allow 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 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 a few of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared big for their preferred teams 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 citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing 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 suggests a brand-new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "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 readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally procedure, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely release 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 six licenses are scheduled for each of the significant expert sports betting teams 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 amongst the most prominent proponents of the tally procedure.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers must expect other prominent nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very 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 tally step enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting options such as wagering kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing locations. 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 ballot measure requires the very first licensed sportsbooks to start accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely deal with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, perennially books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the measure from among the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In a lot of other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given at least one license per managed home.

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra in-house books or, more typically, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering handle market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were reinforced by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio ads focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were deceptive and the 10s of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already spends billions on education annually.