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

The sports betting ballot procedure gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city 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 finest sports betting fans worldwide 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 six of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax income to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot procedure, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely release their particular books.

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

The staying six licenses are reserved for each of the significant expert 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 among the most popular proponents of the tally measure.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors need to anticipate other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most 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 step permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing places. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot measure requires the very 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, perennially books' most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes despite millions in financing opposing the step from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the procedure. In most other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled home.

In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional in-house books or, more commonly, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting handle market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, however 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 bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already spends billions on education annually.