Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters

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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city locations with Missouri, respectively.

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

 » Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they showed up big for their preferred teams on Election Day, » Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. « On behalf of all 6 of Missouri’s expert sports betting franchises, we wish 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 guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax income to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri class. »

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval means up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the « yes » campaign and will unquestionably 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 group (and pay an accompanying charge).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally measure, will likely utilize its license to introduce 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 remains uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.

The staying 6 licenses are booked for each of the significant expert sports betting groups 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 companies were amongst the most popular advocates of the tally step.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to anticipate other prominent national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly 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 measure enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting options such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can likewise 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. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot measure needs the very first certified sportsbooks to start 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting project comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the measure from one of the state’s largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the step. In many other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved at least one license per managed property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded a minimum of three possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open extra internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting manage market share, could potentially have a leg up 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 ballot procedure would seem to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed 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 revenue legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the fans’ ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of projected dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that currently spends billions on education yearly.