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

The sports betting ballot step passed 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 includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro locations with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to approve 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 on the planet and they appeared big for their favorite teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "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 wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting wagering next actions

Voter approval indicates as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably use 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 gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot measure, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch 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 remaining six licenses are scheduled for each of the significant expert 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 among the most prominent proponents of the ballot procedure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors should expect other leading national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch probability 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 tally procedure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person wagering options such as sports betting kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

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

The language around the ballot procedure requires the very first certified 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, continually books' most profitable time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

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

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In a lot of other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per managed home.

Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least three prospective licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional internal books or, more frequently, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering deal with market share, might possibly have a leg up on their rivals 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 step would appear to prefer the 2 national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were strengthened by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the advocates' ads were deceptive and the tens of countless predicted dollars raised would have a negligible impact in a state that already spends billions on education each year.