Missouri Legalizes Sports Betting With Passage Of Amendment 2
After nearly 18 months since a state legalized sports betting, Missouri bucked the trend on Wednesday morning. Voters in the Show-Me State approved legal mobile and retail sports betting, allowing regulated books to take bets by Dec. 1, 2025. Below is more information on the Missouri sports betting launch.
Missouri sports betting amendment narrowly succeeds
Missouri is the only state to permit sports betting this year, making it the 39th state to authorize legal sports wagering. The unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office reveal a statewide margin of only 4,366 votes among the 2.9 million tallied.
With this measure passing on the ballot, individuals older than 21 in the state will be able to place bets. The amendment won’t go into effect for another 30 days. Operators will presumably collaborate with state regulators to launch legal sports betting before the 2025 NFL and college football seasons.
Tax revenue from Missouri sports betting is projected to reach nearly $29 million. Seven states that border Missouri, including Illinois and Kansas, already allow mobile or retail sportsbooks or both. About 65% of the US population resides in a state with legal betting, up from 49% at the end of 2021.
“This is a huge victory for Missouri fans and for the diverse coalition that worked together to pass Amendment 2,” Jeremy Kudon, the president of the Sports Betting Alliance, said in a statement. “Amendment 2 won even despite a historic $14 million spent in opposition — the most ever spent against a Missouri initiative. We are grateful to the Missouri professional sports teams who helped lead this effort and for the broad coalition that made this possible.”
Nevertheless, the election wasn’t as successful for the other gambling measure on the ballot. Voters ruled “no” on Amendment 5, endorsing a new casino around the Lake of the Ozarks. This marks just the third time since 1980 that voters in the state denied a proposal to increase gambling.
Missouri Sports Betting: What’s On Deck?
FanDuel and DraftKings Sportsbook, the largest legal online sportsbook operators in the US, found commonalities in supporting the approval of Missouri sports betting. They spent a reported $41 million, a record for a Missouri ballot initiative. These sportsbooks will likely apply for licenses in the country’s 18th-most populous state and the fourth-largest that has yet to allow sports betting.
Meanwhile, a rival gaming company funded the opposition. Caesars Entertainment, which already runs a handful of casinos in the state, backed the reported $14 million campaign. It will also seek a retail and online sportsbook in Missouri if granted. However, the company resisted the specifics of this measure, which did not seem to flow through pre-existing casinos as much as in some other states.
Missouri’s sports franchises, with teams in the NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, and NWSL, delivered the public face of the state’s sports betting campaign. Their stadiums could aim to incorporate retail sportsbooks, like Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs in neighboring Illinois, where a book opened in June 2023.
“Missouri has some of the best sports fans in the world, and they showed up big for their favorite teams on Election Day,” Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals, said in a news statement on Wednesday.
What’s left? A slew of jurisdictions, particularly enormous markets in Texas and California, could take years to accomplish the same feat.
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