Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters

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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas 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 authorize sports betting wagering this year.

” Missouri has some of the finest sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared huge for their favorite groups 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 historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose important tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a brand-new, devoted, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms.”

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.

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 charge).

Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot step, will likely utilize its license to release 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 staying six licenses are booked for each of the significant expert 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 organizations were amongst the most popular advocates of the ballot procedure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to anticipate other prominent nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly 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 procedure enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing locations. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally procedure needs the very 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 profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering project comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the procedure from one of the state’s biggest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per managed residential or commercial property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded a minimum of 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business 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 of U.S. nationwide sports betting deal with market share, could possibly have a leg up on their rivals by making the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would appear to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.

Polling previously in the year revealed the “yes” vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the fans’ ads were misleading and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education every year.