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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split 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 sports betting. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the finest sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared big for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose important tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will undoubtedly use 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 cost).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally measure, will likely utilize its license to introduce 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 remains uncertain if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the major professional sports betting teams 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 organizations were among the most prominent advocates of the ballot step.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers must expect other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's tally measure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams 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 enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally 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, perennially books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

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

Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the step. In many other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per managed residential or commercial property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open additional internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering deal with market share, could potentially have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

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

A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the income legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently spends billions on education every year.