July produced the lowest Ohio sports betting totals of its first year with legal wagering in 2023. Now, it’s recorded the lowest totals of 2024, too.
Ohio online sportsbooks reported $466.6 million in July wagers, a 9.6% decrease from June’s $516.1 million and the first time handle fell below $500 million since August 2023.
Those numbers represent the seasonal nature of sports betting in Ohio and nationwide. Ohio’s second July also saw 46% yearly growth from $313.6 million in its first go-around.
Revenue is up, too. Ohio sportsbooks made $53.5 million in July, a 6% improvement from June ($50.5 million) and 34% better than July 2023 ($35.9 million).
DraftKings Ohio logs top July sportsbook handle, still trails FanDuel in revenue
In less than two years, the Buckeye State has established itself as a potential top-five sports betting market nationwide. That said, two leading operators continue to propel Ohio sports betting toward that status.
Much like the June sports betting report, DraftKings finished July with the highest handle, accepting $160.2 million in wagers. It was the third month in a row where DraftKings edged out FanDuel, which reported a $139.4 million monthly handle.
Historically, FanDuel has held the upper hand. Aside from these last three months, DraftKings has only had a higher handle for four months between July and October 2023.
And even with the recent top honors for a higher betting volume, DraftKings fell short of its top competitor in the revenue category. DraftKings reported $17.9 million in July revenue to FanDuel’s $20.8 million and has only outperformed FanDuel once in Ohio sports betting history (November 2023).
Five more Ohio sportsbooks claim a 31% market share
According to July’s report, DraftKings and FanDuel cornered 64.2% of the Ohio sports betting market. The following five operators on the list combined to accept $144.6 million in wagers, another 31% of the monthly handle.
Of those five, bet365 retained a clear stronghold at the front of the pack. Further back, Fanatics flipped ESPN Bet in handle, but ESPN Bet’s revenue was better than Caesars and Fanatics.
- bet365: $51.9 million handle; $4.8 million revenue
- BetMGM: $29.2 million handle; $3 million revenue
- Caesars: $27.4 million handle; $1.9 million revenue
- Fanatics: $19 million handle; $1.7 million revenue
- ESPN Bet: $17.2 million handle; $2 million revenue
Ohio’s 11 remaining sportsbooks account for less than 5% market share
Only 4.9% of July’s handle remained after the top seven Ohio sportsbooks got their pieces of the pie. Eleven sportsbooks split this, with those operators falling into two distinct categories.
The first category included five operators who reported monthly handles above $1 million but less than $10 million. All five failed to hit seven figures in monthly revenue.
- Hard Rock Bet: $7 million handle; $855K in taxable revenue
- Prime: $4.9 million handle; $0 in taxable revenue
- BetRivers: $4 million handle: $156K in taxable revenue
- BetJACK: $3.3 million handle; $265K in taxable revenue
- BallyBET: $1.7 million handle; $64K in taxable revenue
The final six operators had betting volumes in the hundreds of thousands and earned just $138K combined.
- MVGBet: $371K handle; $62K in taxable revenue
- Betway: $296K handle; $3K in taxable revenue
- betPARX: $287K handle; $14K in taxable revenue
- Betfred: $276K handle; $26K in taxable revenue
- Superbook: $236K handle; $9K in taxable revenue
- Betr: $193K handle; $24K in taxable revenue
Three slow months down, one left for Ohio sports betting
May through August represent the slowest months on the sporting calendar, resulting in less betting volume. A year ago, sportsbooks accepted $1.46 billion over those four months, or around $366 million on average.
This year has already exceeded that total, as Ohio sports bettors have wagered nearly $1.58 billion in the last three months according to the latest revenue report.
Last year, August outperformed June and July. If that happens again, betting volume will bounce back above $500 million as we look ahead to football season in September.
The real question remains: will Ohio have another billion-dollar month at some point this year? The Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns have their sights set on a postseason run this year, and the Ohio State University Buckeyes are among the favorites to compete for the national championship, ranked second in the nation.
