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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri permit 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 approve legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to approve sports sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up huge for their favorite teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we desire 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 and guarantees we no longer lose important tax profits to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, devoted, 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 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably apply 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 gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying charge).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot step, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely launch 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 remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant professional 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 among the most popular supporters of the ballot step.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to anticipate other leading national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most 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 allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally step requires the very 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting project comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the step from one of the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the measure. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed property.

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of three potential licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional in-house books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, might possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the tally step would appear to favor the two national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were strengthened by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that already invests billions on education yearly.