Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting ballot measure passed by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided 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 sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up big for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish 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 and guarantees we no longer lose important tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting wagering next actions
Voter approval indicates up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will undoubtedly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot step, will likely utilize its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release 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 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 proponents of the ballot measure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to expect other leading nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:
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 step allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing places. 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 needs the very first licensed 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, perennially books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The successful Missouri sports betting wagering project comes despite millions in financing opposing the step from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the measure. In many other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.
In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of 3 prospective 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 commonly, farm out the license to a rival 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, could possibly have a leg up on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot step would appear to favor the two national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.
