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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of 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 approve sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared huge for their preferred 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 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 legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval means as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably apply 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 group (and pay an accompanying fee).

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

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

The staying six licenses are scheduled for each of the major 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 organizations were amongst the most prominent proponents of the ballot measure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to expect other prominent national brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility 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 step enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting alternatives 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 respective home playing venues. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally measure needs the 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, continually books' most profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes despite millions in financing opposing the step from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the measure. In many other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per managed property.

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three prospective 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 additional internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting manage market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn 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 slight lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education yearly.