Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
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Missouri voters authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, permitting regulated books to take bets next year.
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The sports betting wagering tally step passed by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
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Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided 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 approve sports betting wagering this year.
" Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared huge for their preferred groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said 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 approving Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax income to our surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 indicates a new, dedicated, long-term financing stream for Missouri classrooms."
Missouri sports betting wagering next steps
Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 readily available licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 "untethered" licenses available without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar gambling establishment or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying charge).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the tally procedure, will likely use its license to launch the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will also likely launch their respective books.
The other three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains uncertain if they will release mobile sportsbooks.
The staying 6 licenses are booked 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 organizations were amongst the most prominent supporters of the ballot step.
Together with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors must expect other prominent nationwide brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market gain access to.
Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Very 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 casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the six casino operators are expected to open in-person sports betting options such as sports betting kiosks and possibly dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting groups can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing places. 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 needs the very 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, perennially books' most profitable time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting wagering background
The effective Missouri sports betting campaign comes despite millions in funding opposing the procedure from among the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent millions of dollars to beat the step. In a lot of other states that connect online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per handled property.
In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded a minimum of 3 possible licenses, one for each casino it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open books or, more typically, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying charge in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering handle market share, could possibly have a leg up on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the tally measure would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.
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Polling earlier in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were strengthened by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the earnings legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' ads were misleading and the 10s of millions of forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that currently spends billions on education every year.