Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters

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

The sports betting ballot step passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday early 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 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 wagering this year.

” Missouri has a few of the finest sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared huge 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 approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax income to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms.”

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the “yes” project and will undoubtedly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two “untethered” licenses readily available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot step, 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 particular books.

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

The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant 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 among the most popular proponents of the ballot procedure.

Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors ought to anticipate other leading national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:

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

Missouri’s ballot step allows every casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The six sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding 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 certified sportsbooks to begin 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 wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes despite millions in funding opposing the step from among the state’s largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars invested millions of dollars to beat 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 granted at least one license per handled home.

In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 prospective licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra internal books or, more commonly, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering handle market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the tally procedure would seem to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year revealed the “yes” vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were reinforced by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the supporters’ ads were misleading and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education yearly.