Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing managed books to take bets next year.
The sports betting tally procedure passed 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 split 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 wagering. It is the only state to approve sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared huge for their favorite 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 expert sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval implies as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably apply 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 group (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally measure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their respective books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are reserved for each of the major professional 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 popular advocates of the tally step.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers must expect other prominent nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market gain access to.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's ballot measure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot 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, continually books' most profitable time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the step from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars invested countless dollars to beat the procedure. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed home.
In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 3 possible licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra internal books or, more commonly, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting deal with market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot step would seem to favor the 2 national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were misleading and the 10s of countless projected dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.
