Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot step passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city 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 this year.
" Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans in the world 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 expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval means up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will certainly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses readily available without needing 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 casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot step, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release their respective books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are scheduled for each of the major professional 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 among the most popular advocates of the tally step.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to anticipate other leading nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's ballot step allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and possibly devoted, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their respective home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable 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, continually books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the step from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the procedure. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per managed residential or commercial property.
Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least 3 potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional internal books or, more commonly, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting deal with market share, could potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the tally step would appear to favor the two nationwide market leaders.
Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were strengthened by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio ads focused on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were deceptive and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.
