Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters

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

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

Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes 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 this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared big for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, devoted, irreversible funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

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

DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will certainly 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 fee).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot measure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their respective books.

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

The staying 6 licenses are booked for each of the significant professional 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 amongst the most popular proponents of the ballot measure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors need to anticipate other leading national brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very most 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 particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing places. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally procedure needs the very 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, perennially books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting project comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the procedure from among 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 given a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.

In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra in-house books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country 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 two books will make these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would seem to prefer the two national market leaders.

Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were reinforced by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were deceptive and the tens of countless predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education every year.