Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters

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

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

Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile sports betting. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

” Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared huge for their preferred groups 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 wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, devoted, irreversible financing stream for Missouri classrooms.”

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval suggests up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the “yes” campaign and will unquestionably apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 “untethered” licenses readily available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

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

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

The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the major professional 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 prominent proponents of the tally step.

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

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

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

Missouri’s tally procedure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams 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. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally procedure 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, perennially books’ most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the measure from one of the state’s largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars invested countless dollars to beat the measure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per managed residential or commercial property.

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least 3 prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional in-house books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting deal with market share, might possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would appear to prefer the 2 national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed the “yes” vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were boosted by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the advocates’ advertisements were misleading and the tens of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that already spends billions on education annually.