Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing managed books to take bets next year.
The sports betting ballot procedure gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas 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 approve sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up huge 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 expert sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri voters 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 earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, irreversible financing stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting wagering next actions
Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will certainly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally procedure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages 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 uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The staying six licenses are booked for each of the major expert 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 companies were amongst the most prominent supporters of the tally procedure.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to expect other prominent national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
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 permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their respective home playing locations. 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 certified sportsbooks to begin 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 financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the step from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In most 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.
Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional in-house books or, more commonly, farm out 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 handle market share, could potentially have a leg up on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the 2 national market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were boosted by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads focused on the revenue legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education every year.
