Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting ballot measure gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city 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 in the world and they appeared huge for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a new, dedicated, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly 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 gambling establishment or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally step, will likely utilize its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely introduce their particular books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are scheduled for each of the significant professional sports betting teams 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 companies were amongst the most prominent supporters of the tally procedure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors need to expect other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's tally step allows every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as wagering kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally measure requires the first licensed 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 project comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the measure from one of the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the measure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given at least one license per managed property.
In that scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three prospective licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra internal books or, more typically, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally measure would appear to favor the 2 national market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio ads concentrated on the income legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were deceptive and the 10s of countless projected dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already spends billions on education each year.
