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Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.
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The tally step passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.

Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri permit mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city locations 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 huge for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, long-term funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting wagering next steps

Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost 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 readily available without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).

Six licenses are available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, regardless of opposing the tally measure, will likely utilize its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely introduce their particular books.

The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.

The staying six licenses are reserved for each of the significant professional 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 organizations were among the most prominent advocates of the ballot step.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers must expect other leading nationwide brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting:

Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet Very most likely: Fanatics, bet365, ESPN BET Are Already Live In Illinois, So Yeah(?): BetRivers, Hard Rock, Circa Opposed Referendum But Still Might: Caesars

Missouri's ballot procedure permits every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the 6 casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices 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 respective home playing locations. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.

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

Missouri sports betting wagering background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the procedure from one of the state's largest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars invested countless dollars to defeat the procedure. In most other states that tie online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given at least one license per handled property.

In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be managed at least three prospective 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, farm out the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting wagering manage market share, might potentially have a leg up on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which two books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot procedure would seem to prefer the two nationwide market leaders.
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Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were reinforced by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mostly by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were misleading and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already invests billions on education annually.