The Ohio sports betting industry got off to a fast start in January, with approximately 2.25 million unique player accounts identified during the first month of legal sports betting in the state.
According to internet security company GeoComply, which verifies user locations when they log on or attempt to place a bet on an online sportsbook, Cincinnati led the way among Ohio’s largest cities with 38.18 million geolocation checks.
Kentuckians joined the Ohio sports betting party, too, with over 1 million geolocation checks from 58,000 unique users located in Kentucky attempting to access a legal Ohio sportsbook.
Ohio cities lead the way in sports betting geolocation checks
Cincinnati’s 38.18 million geolocation checks were nearly 20% more than Cleveland’s 31.38 million.
Ohio’s biggest cities saw the following number of geolocation checks in January, accounting for around two-thirds of the state’s total:
- Cincinnati: 38.18 million
- Cleveland: 31.38 million
- Columbus: 25.05 million
- Toledo: 11.93 million
These four cities accounted for 106.54 million of the state’s 160 million geolocation checks. Each figure includes transactions within a 30-mile radius of the city center.
Kentucky taking advantage of Ohio sports betting
Cincinnati, of course, got a little help from its friends on the other side of the Ohio River.
In January, 2,042 unique accounts were detected to have physically crossed the border into Ohio around 7,700 times.
“Ohio is profiting from Kentuckians who prefer to wager in a legal market rather than the black market,” according to GeoComply.
GeoComply found that these 2,042 sportsbook usernames were geolocated in Ohio shortly after being geolocated in Kentucky.
Ohio led all U.S. states in NFL playoff betting
Ohio’s geolocation numbers are stacking up against the biggest sports betting states in the country early on.
During the NFL playoffs, from Jan. 14 through the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 29, Ohio was the clear leader with more than 87 million transactions. That figure topped even New York (72 million) and Pennsylvania (65 million).
According to new projections from PlayOhio, Ohio is set to rank among the biggest Super Bowl betting states in the country. Based on historical Super Bowl betting data, Ohio could take in $82.6 million in Super Bowl betting. That figure would rank fifth-highest in the U.S. based on projections.
These January numbers are in line with PlayOhio‘s projection of 2023 Ohio sports betting revenue topping $8 billion, which would put Ohio among the biggest markets in the U.S. in Year 1.
