Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters

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

The sports betting tally measure 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 consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city areas with Missouri, respectively.

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

” Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans worldwide and they showed up big for their preferred groups on Election Day,” Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. “On behalf of all 6 of Missouri’s professional sports betting franchises, we desire to thank the Missouri citizens 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 valuable tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, devoted, permanent funding stream for Missouri classrooms.”

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

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

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

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally step, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally’s (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their particular books.

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

The remaining six licenses are reserved for each of the sports betting groups 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 advocates of the ballot step.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to expect other prominent national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters approve 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 ballot measure allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person wagering options such as sports betting kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally procedure needs the very first licensed 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, perennially books’ most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes despite millions in funding opposing the step from among the state’s largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the step. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given at least one license per handled residential or commercial property.

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open additional internal books or, more typically, 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 manage market share, might possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would appear to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year revealed the “yes” vote with a minor 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 largely by Caesars, argued the advocates’ advertisements were misleading and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that already invests billions on education yearly.