Ohio Sports Betting Takes Another Step Towards Becoming A Reality

Written By Frank Weber on April 1, 2022 - Last Updated on July 28, 2022
Ohio Is One Step Closer To Legal Sports Betting

Earlier this month, the Ohio Casino Control Commission unanimously approved the second round of sports betting rules, spring-boarding its launch to early-2023. This second round of rules sets details for licenses, sporting events, wagers types, and license fees. This is the second of five necessary rounds for Ohio sports betting to become fully approved.

Already gearing up for a new market is one of its neighboring states. Indianas #1 casino just went through a $2.4 million renovation on their brick-and-mortar sportsbook.

Indiana casinos may have to spend a bit more money if they want to hold out Ohio, though. This new set of rules allows up to 25 licenses for online sports betting alone.

New Ohio sports betting licensing laws

Type A license holders must also hold a type B license or have an operational place of business in the state. Furthermore, they may partner with up to two sportsbook operators. This opens to door for a maximum of 50 online sportsbooks in the state of Ohio alone.

Type B licenses are for brickandmortar locations alone, which may offer betting through kiosks and betting windows. A maximum of 40 licenses will be granted.

Ohio counties with a population of 800,000 or more have a maximum of five Type B licenses. Those with less of a population may only be granted three, or even one.

As per the new rules just passed, there are 20 counties eligible for one Type B license. Two of these counties are eligible for two, and three counties are eligible for up to five type B licenses.

The final license type, type C, reserves sports betting permits for selfservice or clerkoperated terminals in establishments with liquor licenses. A maximum of 20 type C licenses are up for grabs in Ohio.

High expectations set for Ohio sports betting market

The Ohio sports betting market is one of the most highly anticipated since New York launched earlier this year.

“I think Ohio’s performance to handle the revenue, that state tax collections are going to be higher than they are in Illinois and Michigan where they’re approaching numbers of close to a billion dollars a month in sports betting transactions,” sports betting attorney Daniel Wallach said. “And then when you add in how accessible and convenient it’s going to be to place a wager, I think Ohio’s performance is going to outpace Michigan and Illinois.”

John Atkinson is the current director of business development at 888 Holdings. He predicts that Ohio could generate up to $8 billion in sports handle alone once the market matures. To put that in perspective, that’s 4x higher than Iowa’s handling in 2021, which was $2 billion.

When looking at population size, Ohio (11.7 million people) compares most closely to Illinois (12.6 million) and Pennsylvania (12.8 million). Seeing as how Illinois and Pennsylvania are the third and fourth-largest sports betting markets in the US, respectively, it paints a nice future for Ohio.

Check back with us here at PlayOhio for more updates on Ohio’s road to legalized sports betting. While the original deadline to launch was January 1st, 2023, things are moving much faster than previously anticipated.

Experts believe that Ohio could turn into one of the largest states in the country in terms of sports betting revenue. However, before launch, the state has to iron out the rest of the rules and regulations: beginning before the NFL season is not out of the realm of possibility, but it is unlikely.

 

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Frank Weber

Frank Weber is a US-based gambling writer with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He loves baseball, football, basketball, soccer and the UFC and collects sports cards and memorabilia in his spare time.

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