Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, permitting controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting tally procedure gone by a slim majority early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri permit 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 wagering. It is the only state to authorize sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans on the planet and they revealed up huge for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval suggests approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will undoubtedly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot procedure, 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 release their particular books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the significant 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 companies were among the most prominent supporters of the ballot step.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to expect other prominent nationwide brand names consisting of 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
Most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's tally measure allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting options such as sports betting kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally measure requires the first licensed 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 rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the step from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars invested millions of dollars to beat the step. In most other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per managed home.
Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 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 extra in-house books or, more typically, farm out 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 wagering deal with market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the tally step would appear to prefer the 2 national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already invests billions on education annually.
