Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering 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 permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split 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 sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared huge for their favorite teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and ensures we no longer lose important tax income to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, devoted, long-term funding stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval means approximately 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" campaign and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "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 casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot procedure, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their particular books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the significant 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 amongst the most popular advocates of the ballot step.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers should anticipate other leading national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting wagering:
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 step permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot procedure needs the very first certified 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 background
The effective Missouri sports betting wagering project comes despite millions in funding opposing the step from one of the state's largest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the procedure. In many other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given a minimum of one license per managed home.
Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of 3 possible 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, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, could possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot step would appear to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.
Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were deceptive and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.
