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

The sports betting tally step passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
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Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri enable 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 authorize sports betting wagering this year.

" Missouri has a few of the very best sports betting fans in the world and they appeared big for their favorite groups 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 desire 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 income to our surrounding states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri class."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval indicates as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.
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DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost 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 available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or (and pay an accompanying cost).

Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally measure, 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 release their respective books.

The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.

The remaining 6 licenses are booked for each of the major professional sports betting groups 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 prominent proponents of the tally measure.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers should expect other leading national brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.

Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:
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Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet Very 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 step allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the 6 casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their particular home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
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The language around the tally procedure 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 lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the step from one of the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
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Caesars invested countless dollars to defeat the step. In most other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per handled property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least three potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra internal books or, more frequently, 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 manage market share, could possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot procedure would seem to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.
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Polling previously in the year revealed 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 advertisements concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the supporters' advertisements were misleading and the 10s of countless projected dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already spends billions on education annually.