Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot procedure passed by a slim majority early Wednesday early morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the eight states bordering Missouri allow mobile or retail sportsbooks. That consists of Kansas and Illinois, which divided the Kansas City and St. Louis city areas 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 very best sports betting fans on the planet and they appeared big for their favorite 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 want to thank the Missouri citizens 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 surrounding states. Most importantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, devoted, permanent financing stream for Missouri class.”
Missouri sports betting next steps
Voter approval indicates approximately 14 mobile sportsbooks might start accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 readily available licenses are used.
DraftKings and FanDuel funded nearly every dollar of the “yes” and will undoubtedly use 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 group (and pay an accompanying fee).
Six licenses are readily available to each Missouri casino operator, respectively. Caesars, in spite of opposing the tally procedure, will likely use its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which handles ESPN Bet, and Bally’s (Bally Bet) will also likely launch their particular books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays unclear if they will introduce mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are booked for each of the significant expert 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 companies were amongst the most popular proponents of the tally procedure.
Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri gamblers need to expect other prominent national brands consisting of BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to look for market access.
Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri citizens authorize sports betting wagering:
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 step permits 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 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering alternatives such as sports betting kiosks and potentially devoted, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting groups 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. amongst jurisdictions that permit in-stadium retail sportsbooks.
The language around the tally step needs the very first licensed 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, continually books’ most rewarding time of the sports betting calendar.
Missouri sports betting background
The successful Missouri sports betting campaign comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the procedure from among the state’s largest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars spent countless dollars to beat the measure. In the majority of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state’s brick-and-mortar casinos, an operator is approved a minimum of one license per handled home.
In that situation in Missouri, Caesars would be paid for at least 3 prospective licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars just has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open extra in-house 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. nationwide sports betting manage market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the pair of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will earn these slots, but the language around the ballot procedure would seem to favor the 2 nationwide market leaders.
Polling earlier in the year revealed the “yes” vote with a small lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the revenue legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed mostly by Caesars, argued the fans’ ads were misleading and the tens of millions of predicted dollars raised would have a minimal impact in a state that already invests billions on education every year.
