Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering tally step gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas 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 some of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they revealed up big for their preferred groups on Election Day,” Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. “On behalf of all six of Missouri’s professional 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 legislate sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax profits to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms.”
Missouri sports betting wagering next steps
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 funded 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 available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the ballot procedure, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally’s (Bally Bet) will likewise likely release their respective books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major expert 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 companies were amongst the most popular advocates of the ballot measure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers should anticipate other prominent nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET
Are Already Reside In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri’s tally procedure permits every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices such as wagering kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting teams can also open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular home playing venues. 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 needs 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 financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The effective Missouri sports betting wagering project comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state’s largest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the step. In many other states that tie online sports betting with a state’s brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given at least one license per managed residential or commercial property.
Because scenario in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least three 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 additional in-house books or, more frequently, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting manage market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their rivals by making the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would appear to favor the 2 national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year revealed the “yes” vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements concentrated on the profits legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public . Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the fans’ advertisements were misleading and the 10s of countless predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already invests billions on education each year.
