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

The sports betting wagering tally procedure gone by a slim bulk 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 includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro locations 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 this year.

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they showed up huge for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "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 approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax income to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a brand-new, devoted, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval indicates approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying charge).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot step, will likely utilize its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release their particular books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the significant 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 among the most popular proponents of the tally procedure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors need to anticipate other prominent nationwide brand names 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
Very most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's tally measure allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing locations. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot step needs the very first licensed 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 profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the procedure from among the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars invested millions of dollars to beat the procedure. In most other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled home.

In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded 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 in-house books or, more typically, 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. across the country sports betting deal with market share, could potentially have a leg up on their rivals by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot step would seem to favor the two nationwide market leaders.

Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were bolstered by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that already spends billions on education annually.