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

The sports betting ballot procedure gone by a slim majority early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas 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 wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans on the planet and they revealed up big for their preferred teams 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 wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving 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 neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses readily available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot step, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely release their particular books.

The other 3 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 expert 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 proponents of the ballot procedure.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to anticipate other prominent national brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most 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 enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering options such as sports betting kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their respective home playing places. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot procedure requires the 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, continually books' most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the procedure from one of the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In a lot of other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled property.

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 possible licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra internal books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting manage market share, could potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally measure would appear to favor the 2 national market leaders.

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

A series of television and radio advertisements focused on the revenue legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that already spends billions on education every year.