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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city locations with Missouri, respectively.
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Missouri is the 39th state to approve legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the finest sports betting fans in the world and they showed up huge for their preferred 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 desire 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 profits to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval means up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly 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 readily available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).
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Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely introduce their respective books.

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

The staying six licenses are reserved for each of the major 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 organizations were amongst the most prominent supporters of the ballot procedure.
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Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors must expect other prominent national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
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Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet Highly likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering choices such as sports betting kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing places. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally measure requires the very first certified 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, continually books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the procedure from among the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
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Caesars invested countless dollars to beat the measure. In many 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 handled property.
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In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least 3 prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open additional in-house books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.
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FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering deal with market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their rivals by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the tally procedure would appear to prefer the two national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were reinforced by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were deceptive and the 10s of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that currently invests billions on education every year.