Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing controlled books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot measure 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 city areas 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 some of the finest sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared huge for their preferred teams on Election Day,” Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. “On behalf of all 6 of Missouri’s professional sports betting franchises, we wish to thank the Missouri voters who made their voices heard by approving Amendment 2. This historical vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legislate sports betting wagering and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax profits to our neighboring states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, permanent financing stream for Missouri class.”
Missouri sports betting next actions
Voter approval means up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could start accepting bets next year. It is not likely all 14 offered licenses are utilized.
DraftKings and FanDuel financed almost every dollar of the “yes” campaign and will certainly apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the 2 “untethered” licenses offered without having to partner with a Missouri brick-and-mortar casino or sports betting team (and pay an accompanying cost).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot measure, will likely use its license to introduce the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally’s (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their respective books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant expert 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 prominent proponents of the tally measure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri wagerers need to expect other leading national brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.
Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri voters authorize sports betting:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
Highly 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 every Missouri gambling establishment to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments managed by the six gambling establishment operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering choices such as sports betting kiosks and potentially dedicated, full-service sportsbooks.
The six sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their respective home playing venues. Missouri will sign up with Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. among jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the ballot step needs the 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, continually books’ most financially rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The effective Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the step from among the state’s biggest sports betting stakeholders.
Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the step. In a lot of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled property.
Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded a minimum of 3 prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it handles. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra in-house books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. nationwide sports betting handle market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by making the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot step would appear to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.
Polling previously in the year showed the “yes” vote with a minor lead. Support efforts were bolstered by tens of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would create for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded mainly by Caesars, argued the advocates’ ads were deceptive and the 10s of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a negligible effect in a state that already invests billions on education every year.
