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

The sports betting tally measure gone by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro locations with Missouri, respectively.
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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 this year.

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they revealed up 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 six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, devoted, long-term funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.
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DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly 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 casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally procedure, will likely utilize its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely introduce their respective books.

The other 3 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 major 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 organizations were amongst the most prominent supporters of the tally step.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to expect other leading national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters 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
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Missouri's ballot measure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as wagering kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their respective home playing places. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally step needs 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the step from one of the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
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Caesars spent dollars to beat the procedure. In many other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed home.

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least 3 potential 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 typically, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering handle market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally procedure would seem to favor the two nationwide market leaders.

Polling earlier 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 ads focused on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that currently spends billions on education annually.