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

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

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis metro locations with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to approve sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans on the planet and they revealed up big for their favorite teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all six of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval indicates up to 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 available licenses are utilized.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the "yes" project and will certainly use to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses offered without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the ballot step, will likely utilize its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their respective books.

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

The remaining six licenses are scheduled for each of the significant expert 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 companies were among the most popular proponents of the tally step.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to anticipate other leading nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters authorize 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 procedure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular homes. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering options such as wagering kiosks and potentially committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing places. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. amongst jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

The language around the tally step requires the very 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 rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes regardless of millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state's largest gambling stakeholders.

Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the measure. In many other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled property.

Because circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property model, business can either open extra in-house books or, more typically, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering deal with market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the ballot step would appear to prefer the 2 national market leaders.

Polling previously in the year revealed the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were strengthened by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the revenue legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were misleading and the 10s of countless predicted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already spends billions on education annually.