Sports betting wins narrow approval in Missouri after high-dollar campaign

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Fans in Missouri will be able to bet on sports next year as a result of a ballot measure that barely passed despite getting help from record-setting spending and the state’s professional teams.

State election officials on Thursday certified that the sports betting measure passed with 50.05% support in the November election.

Although the constitutional amendment takes effect now, betting won’t begin immediately. State regulators first must draft rules and take applications from sportsbooks.

The Missouri Gaming Commission is working to launch sports betting by late spring or early summer — well before the amendment’s Dec. 1, 2025, deadline to do so, commission Executive Director Mike Leara said.

A total of 38 states and Washington, D.C., already allow sports betting, which has expanded rapidly since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it in 2018.

Missouri allows recounts on ballot questions to be requested within seven days after certification when the winning margin is less than 0.5% of the total votes cast.

A spokesperson for Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said Thursday that a recount request would need to come from someone involved in one of the campaigns. A spokesperson for the opposition group, Missourians Against the Deceptive Online Gambling Amendment, said Thursday that it does not plan to request a recount.

The $43 million supportive campaign — a record for a Missouri ballot measure — was funded almost entirely by DraftKings and FanDuel, which dominate the nationwide sports betting marketplace. Of the total raised, a combined $2 million was chipped in by the state’s six major professional sports teams — the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas City Royals, and the Kansas City Current and St. Louis City soccer teams.

“Joining the 38 other states that already allow sports betting will allow us to further engage with our fans, while keeping tens of millions in Missouri for the benefit of our classrooms and communities,” St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said in a statement Thursday.

The $14 million opposition campaign was funded entirely by Caesars Entertainment, which operates three of Missouri’s 13 casinos.

Missouri’s constitutional amendment will allow each of the state’s casinos and professional sports teams to offer on-site and mobile sports betting. Teams will control on-site betting and advertising within 400 yards (366 meters) of their stadiums and arenas. The initiative also allows two mobile sports betting operators to be licensed directly by the Missouri Gaming Commission.

Missouri will impose a 10% tax on sports betting revenue, which is below the national average of 19% that sportsbooks paid to states last year.

Under the initiative, at least $5 million annually in licensing fees and taxes must go toward problem gambling programs, with remaining tax revenues going toward elementary, secondary and higher education.

Supporters turned to the initiative petition process to get the measure on the ballot after attempts to legalize sports betting repeatedly stalled in the state Senate.

Though available in most states, sports betting remains off-limits in some potentially lucrative markets, such as California and Texas. In 2022, California voters defeated two rival proposals to legalize sports betting after interest groups spent roughly $450 million promoting or opposing the measures.