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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri permit 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 approve legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile sports betting. It is the only state to authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared huge for their favorite 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 wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and ensures we no longer lose important tax income to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a brand-new, devoted, permanent funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will unquestionably use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses readily available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying charge).

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

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

The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the major professional sports betting teams 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 ballot step.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers should expect other leading national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting:

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

Missouri's tally measure allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the ballot 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the procedure from one of the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In most other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per handled property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least three possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra in-house books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting manage market share, could potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains 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 revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were strengthened by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that currently spends billions on education each year.