Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot step passed by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight 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 wagering this year.
" Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared huge for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we want 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 wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax profits to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting next actions
Voter approval suggests up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses readily available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite 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 release their respective books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 licenses are reserved 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 popular supporters of the ballot procedure.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors must expect other prominent nationwide brand names consisting of 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
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 procedure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective 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 ballot step requires the first certified sportsbooks to begin 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 financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting project comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the procedure from among the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In many other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.
In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least 3 possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open additional internal books or, more commonly, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting manage market share, could potentially have a leg up on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally step would appear to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were deceptive and the tens of millions of projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently spends billions on education every year.
