Missouri voters approved legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing controlled books to take bets next year.

The sports betting tally measure gone by a slim majority 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 metro areas with Missouri, respectively.

Missouri is the 39th state to authorize legal sportsbooks and the 31st to green light statewide mobile wagering. It is the only state to authorize sports betting this year.

" Missouri has some of the best sports betting fans on the planet and they showed up big for their preferred teams on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a statement. "On behalf of all 6 of Missouri's professional sports betting franchises, we want to thank the Missouri citizens who made their voices heard by authorizing Amendment 2. This historic vote makes Missouri the 39th state to legalize sports betting wagering and ensures we no longer lose valuable tax income to our neighboring states. Most notably, the passage of Amendment 2 means a new, dedicated, long-term funding stream for Missouri classrooms."

Missouri sports betting next steps

Voter approval indicates up to 14 mobile sportsbooks could begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are used.

DraftKings and FanDuel financed nearly 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 available without needing 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, regardless of opposing the ballot procedure, will likely utilize 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 three operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It stays uncertain if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.

The staying 6 licenses are reserved for each of the major 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 companies were among the most popular advocates of the ballot procedure.

Along with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors must expect other leading nationwide brand names including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market access.

Launch likelihood tiers IF Missouri voters approve sports betting:

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

Missouri's tally procedure enables every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their particular residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 gambling establishments handled by the 6 casino operators are anticipated to open in-person wagering options such as sports betting kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.

The 6 sports betting teams can likewise open in-person sportsbooks within or adjacent to their particular 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 procedure requires the 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, perennially books' most lucrative time of the sports betting calendar.

Missouri sports betting background

The successful Missouri sports betting wagering campaign comes in spite of millions in financing opposing the procedure from one of the state's biggest sports betting stakeholders.

Caesars spent millions of dollars to defeat the procedure. In a lot of other states that connect online sports betting wagering with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is granted a minimum of one license per handled residential or commercial property.

Because situation in Missouri, Caesars would be afforded at least 3 potential licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property model, companies can either open additional internal books or, more frequently, subcontract the license to a competitor that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.

FanDuel and DraftKings, which have approximately two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering deal with market share, might possibly have an upper hand on their competitors by making the pair of untethered licenses. It stays to be seen which two books will make these slots, but the language around the ballot measure would seem to favor the 2 national market leaders.

Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were bolstered by 10s of millions invested by DraftKings and FanDuel.

A series of television and radio ads focused on the income legal sportsbooks would produce for Missouri public education. Opponents, moneyed largely by Caesars, argued the advocates' 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 every year.