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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri permit 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 some of the best sports betting fans on the planet and they showed up huge 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 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 legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval indicates as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded 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 available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally procedure, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely release their respective books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will launch 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 popular advocates of the ballot measure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to anticipate other leading nationwide brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly 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 permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering choices 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 venues. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally step requires the first certified sportsbooks to start accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely work 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 successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the step. In most other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is approved at least one license per managed home.

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment 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 commonly, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting deal with market share, could possibly have a leg up on their rivals by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot measure would appear to favor the two national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were strengthened by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were deceptive and the 10s of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that currently invests billions on education yearly.