Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering tally procedure gone by a slim bulk 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 includes 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 authorize sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has a few of the very best 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, said in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax income to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, devoted, irreversible funding stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting wagering next actions
Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly 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 readily available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely introduce their particular books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 licenses are scheduled for each of the major expert 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 organizations were among the most popular advocates of the tally measure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers ought to anticipate other leading national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live 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 respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally step needs the very first certified 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 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 beat the procedure. In a lot of 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 handled property.
Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded a minimum of 3 potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business 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 manage market share, could potentially have a leg up on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the two nationwide market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio ads focused on the profits legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were deceptive and the 10s of millions of projected dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.
