Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.

The sports betting wagering ballot procedure gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
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Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city locations with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they showed up huge for their favorite 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 expert 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 legislate sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax income to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying charge).
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Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally procedure, 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 remains unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining six 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 companies were amongst the most prominent advocates of the ballot measure.

Together 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 likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters 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 procedure allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting options such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
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The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular 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 measure needs the very first licensed sportsbooks to begin accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely deal with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, continually books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the procedure from one of the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the step. In many other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three prospective licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional in-house books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
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FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting handle market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the tally step would seem to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.
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Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were bolstered by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the advocates' ads were misleading and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.