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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of 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 wagering. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they showed up big 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 voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose important tax profits to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project 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 casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely launch their respective books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are reserved 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 organizations were among the most prominent proponents of the ballot measure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors should expect other leading national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very 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 permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing places. 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 tally procedure 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, continually books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.

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

In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open extra 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. across the country sports betting wagering manage market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would appear to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.

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

A series of television and radio advertisements focused on the profits legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education every year.