Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
Missouri citizens approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting ballot step 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 metro locations with Missouri, respectively.
Missouri is the 39th state to authorize 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 a few of the best sports betting fans in the world and they showed up big for their preferred groups on Election Day,” Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. “On behalf of all six of Missouri’s expert sports betting franchises, we desire 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 and guarantees we no longer lose important tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 suggests a brand-new, dedicated, irreversible financing stream for Missouri class.”
Missouri sports betting wagering next steps
Voter approval implies up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the “yes” project and will unquestionably use 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 sports betting team (and pay an accompanying charge).
Six licenses are offered to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite 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 also likely introduce their particular books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are scheduled 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 amongst the most popular proponents of the tally procedure.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers ought to expect other prominent nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for access to.
Launch probability tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting:
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 ballot measure enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 gambling establishment 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 likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or nearby to their particular home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot step requires the very first certified sportsbooks to start accepting wagers by Dec. 1, 2025. Operators will likely deal 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 background
The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes despite millions in financing opposing the measure from among the state’s largest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to defeat the step. In a lot of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled home.
Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three possible licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra internal books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting deal with market share, could potentially have a leg up on their rivals by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will earn these slots, however the language around the tally step would seem to favor the two national market leaders.
Polling previously in the year revealed the “yes” vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were bolstered by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio advertisements concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the fans’ advertisements were misleading and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that currently invests billions on education yearly.