Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.
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The sports betting ballot procedure gone by a slim majority early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
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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 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 this year.

" Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans in the world and they appeared 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 desire to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a brand-new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval suggests up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will undoubtedly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying charge).

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

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

The staying 6 licenses are scheduled for each of the major 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 companies were amongst the most popular supporters of the tally procedure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to expect other leading nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.
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Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet Most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's ballot step permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting options such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their particular 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 requires 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the procedure from among the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars invested millions of dollars to defeat the step. In many other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per handled property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of three possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting manage market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would appear to prefer the 2 leaders.

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

A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were deceptive and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already invests billions on education each year.