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

The sports betting tally procedure gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the 8 states bordering 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 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 revealed up 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 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval indicates up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "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 tally step, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their particular books.

The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining six licenses are reserved for each of the major professional 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 prominent proponents of the ballot procedure.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers ought to anticipate other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market gain access to.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens 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 measure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as wagering kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting groups 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 allow in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally step requires the 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 wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the step from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In many other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is granted at least one license per handled home.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, companies can either open extra in-house books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering handle market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the tally step would seem to prefer the two nationwide market leaders.

Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s 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 largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' advertisements were misleading and the tens of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already invests billions on education annually.