Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting, permitting controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot step gone by a slim majority early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the 8 states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which split the Kansas City and St. Louis city areas with Missouri, respectively.
Missouri is the 39th state to approve legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile sports betting. It is the only state to approve sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has some of the very best sports betting fans worldwide and they revealed up huge for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a declaration. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's expert sports betting franchises, we desire 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 wagering and ensures we no longer lose important tax earnings to our surrounding states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a new, dedicated, irreversible funding stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting wagering next actions
Voter approval means approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded 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 two "untethered" licenses offered without needing to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying fee).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally step, will likely utilize its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely introduce their respective books.
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The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The staying six licenses are scheduled 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 companies were among the most prominent supporters of the tally procedure.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers must anticipate other prominent national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch probability tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
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 enables every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their respective homes. Most if not all 13 casinos managed by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person sports betting choices 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 venues. Missouri will join Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that enable in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot step needs the very first licensed 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 financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes in spite of millions in funding opposing the measure from among the state's largest gambling stakeholders.
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Caesars invested millions of dollars to beat the measure. In a lot of other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given at least one license per handled home.
Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for a minimum of three prospective licenses, one for each casino it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra internal books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying fee in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting handle market share, could possibly have a leg up on their rivals by making the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot step would seem to favor the two national market leaders.
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Polling previously in the year the "yes" vote with a small lead. Support efforts were strengthened by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of tv and radio advertisements focused on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the supporters' ads were misleading and the tens of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that already spends billions on education every year.
