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

The sports betting wagering tally step gone by a slim majority early Wednesday 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 city areas 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 approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has a few 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, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax income to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

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

DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will undoubtedly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses readily available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).

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

The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major professional sports betting teams 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 among the most popular proponents of the tally step.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to expect other prominent nationwide brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

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

Missouri's tally measure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 casino operators are expected to open in-person wagering choices 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 particular home playing places. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally measure requires 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 rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

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

Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the measure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional in-house books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately 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 stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, but the language around the tally measure would seem to favor the 2 national market leaders.

Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio advertisements focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that currently invests billions on education annually.