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

The sports betting wagering tally procedure 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 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 best sports betting fans in the world and they showed up big 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 citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, devoted, long-term funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval suggests approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.

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

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the ballot procedure, will likely use its license to introduce 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 stays unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.

The staying six licenses are scheduled for each of the major expert 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 prominent advocates of the tally step.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers ought to expect other prominent national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens approve 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 step allows every Missouri casino 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 sports betting options such as sports betting kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the ballot procedure needs the first licensed 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 profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

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

Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the step. In most other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved at least one license per handled residential or commercial property.

In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open extra in-house books or, more typically, 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 wagering manage market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the tally step 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 boosted by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the revenue 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 predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already invests billions on education yearly.