Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing managed books to take bets next year.

The sports betting 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 permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided 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 approve sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the best sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared huge for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all six 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 and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval implies as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin 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 certainly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying charge).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally measure, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release their respective books.

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

The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant professional sports betting teams 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 supporters of the tally procedure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to expect other leading nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
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 step allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and possibly devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot procedure needs the very first certified sportsbooks to begin accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely deal with regulators to go live before kick-off of the fall 2025 football season, continually books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the step from among the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the measure. In a lot of other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted at least one license per managed home.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded a minimum of 3 prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering handle 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 earn these slots, however the language around the tally measure would appear to favor the two national market leaders.

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

A series of television and radio advertisements focused on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.