Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, permitting managed books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot step 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 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 best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared huge for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, dedicated, irreversible financing stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting wagering next steps
Voter approval suggests up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying charge).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite 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 also likely launch their particular books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major professional 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 bettors must anticipate other prominent national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting wagering:
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 ballot measure 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 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their respective home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot procedure needs the 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, perennially books' most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The successful Missouri sports betting project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the procedure from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars invested countless dollars to defeat the measure. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted at least one license per managed home.
Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least three possible licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional internal books or, more frequently, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting deal with market share, might possibly have a leg up on their rivals by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot measure would seem to favor the two nationwide market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio ads focused on the profits legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mainly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were deceptive and the 10s of countless predicted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that currently spends billions on education annually.
