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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas with Missouri, respectively.
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Missouri is the 39th state to authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they appeared big for their favorite 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 guarantees we no longer lose important tax profits to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next actions

Voter approval means as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are used.

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

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

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
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The remaining six licenses are scheduled for each of the significant professional sports betting groups 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 prominent advocates of the ballot measure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to anticipate other leading national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
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Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet Very 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 permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective 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 step needs 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, perennially books' most profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the measure from among the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the procedure. In most other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved at least one license per handled property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of 3 prospective licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the design, 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 handle market share, might potentially have a leg up on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the tally procedure would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.
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Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were reinforced by tens of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the fans' ads were misleading and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.