Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot procedure gone by a slim majority 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 consists of 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 authorize sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared big for their favorite teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose important tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, devoted, permanent funding stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting next actions
Voter approval indicates approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably apply 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 team (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally procedure, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release their respective books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 licenses are reserved 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 organizations were among the most popular proponents of the ballot measure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to anticipate other leading nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for 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 Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's tally measure allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing venues. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally procedure needs the first certified 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 rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The effective Missouri sports betting project comes despite millions in financing opposing the measure from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the measure. In a lot of other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved at least one license per managed residential or commercial property.
In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 potential licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra internal books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, could possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally step would appear to favor 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 invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the advocates' ads were misleading and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already invests billions on education yearly.
