Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting tally procedure gone by a slim majority early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri permit 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 authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared 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 wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, devoted, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting next actions
Voter approval indicates up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot measure, will likely use its license to release 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 remains unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant expert sports betting groups 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 proponents of the ballot step.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to expect other prominent nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's ballot step enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally measure requires the first licensed 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 project comes despite millions in funding opposing the measure from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars invested countless dollars to beat the step. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted at least one license per managed home.
Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 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 additional internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering handle market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would appear to favor the two national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were strengthened by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education annually.
