Missouri Sports Betting Ballot Measure Approved By Voters
Missouri citizens authorized legal mobile and retail sports betting wagering, allowing regulated books to take bets next year.
The sports betting wagering ballot step gone by a slim bulk early Wednesday morning after more than 2.9 million votes were counted.
Seven of the 8 states surrounding Missouri enable mobile or retail sportsbooks. That includes Kansas and Illinois, which split 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 approve sports betting this year.
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" Missouri has some of the finest sports betting fans worldwide and they appeared huge for their favorite groups on Election Day," Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated in a declaration. "On behalf of all six 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 legislate sports betting and guarantees we no longer lose valuable tax revenue to our neighboring states. Most significantly, the passage of Amendment 2 implies a brand-new, devoted, permanent funding stream for Missouri class."
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Missouri sports betting wagering next steps
Voter approval suggests as much as 14 mobile sportsbooks might begin accepting bets next year. It is unlikely all 14 available licenses are utilized.
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DraftKings and FanDuel funded almost every dollar of the "yes" campaign and will unquestionably apply to take bets in the Show Me State. They will likely each pursue the two "untethered" licenses available 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 gambling establishment operator, respectively. Caesars, despite opposing the ballot procedure, will likely utilize its license to release the Caesars mobile sportsbook. Penn Entertainment, which manages ESPN Bet, and Bally's (Bally Bet) will likewise likely launch their particular books.
The other 3 operators are Boyd Gaming, Century Casino, and Affinity Interactive. It remains unclear if they will launch mobile sportsbooks.
The remaining six licenses are scheduled 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 prominent advocates of the tally step.
In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars, Missouri bettors need to anticipate other leading national brands including BetMGM, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics to seek market gain access to.
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Launch possibility tiers IF Missouri citizens approve sports betting wagering:
Guarantees: FanDuel, DraftKings
Locks: BetMGM, Bally Bet
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 allows every Missouri casino to open retail sportsbooks on their respective residential or commercial properties. Most if not all 13 casinos handled by the 6 gambling establishment operators are expected to open in-person sports betting choices such as sports betting kiosks and possibly committed, full-service sportsbooks.
The 6 sports betting groups can also open in-person sportsbooks within or surrounding to their particular home playing locations. 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 measure needs the very first certified sportsbooks to start 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 effective Missouri sports betting project comes regardless of millions in funding opposing the step from one of the state's biggest gambling stakeholders.
Caesars invested countless dollars to defeat the procedure. In the majority of other states that tie online sports betting with a state's brick-and-mortar gambling establishments, an operator is given a minimum of one license per handled home.
In that circumstance in Missouri, Caesars would be managed a minimum of 3 possible licenses, one for each gambling establishment it manages. Instead, Caesars only has one. In states with the license-per-property design, business can either open additional internal books or, more typically, farm out the license to a rival that pays an accompanying cost in exchange.
FanDuel and DraftKings, which have roughly two-thirds of U.S. across the country sports betting wagering manage market share, might potentially have an upper hand on their competitors by earning the set of untethered licenses. It remains to be seen which 2 books will make these slots, however the language around the ballot measure would appear to prefer the 2 nationwide market leaders.
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Polling previously in the year showed the "yes" vote with a slight lead. Support efforts were boosted by 10s of millions spent by DraftKings and FanDuel.
A series of television and radio ads concentrated on the income legal sportsbooks would generate for Missouri public education. Opponents, funded largely by Caesars, argued the fans' advertisements were misleading and the 10s of of forecasted dollars raised would have a minimal effect in a state that already invests billions on education every year.