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

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

Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split 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 a few of the best sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared big for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose important tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.
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 2 "untethered" licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting group (and pay an accompanying fee).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the ballot step, will likely utilize its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely introduce their respective books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining 6 licenses are reserved for each of the significant professional 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 amongst the most popular supporters of the tally procedure.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors should anticipate other prominent nationwide brand names consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market gain access to.
Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens 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, Acid Rock, Circa
Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars
Missouri's ballot procedure enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their respective home playing places. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot step needs 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, continually books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the step from one of the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars invested millions of dollars to beat the step. In many 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 handled property.
In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of three potential licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, 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 manage market share, might possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot procedure would seem to favor the two national market leaders.

Polling earlier in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were bolstered by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio advertisements focused on the income legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the tens of countless forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that currently invests billions on education each year.
