The Cincinnati Reds and BetMGM want to move their retail sportsbook. Sure, its location within the Machine Room at Great American Ball Park made a lot of sense. And in theory it still does.
But the team and the operator see a better future at Second Street and Joe Nuxhall Way in the former Galla Park nightclub space at the Banks.
And they can forget about the problem. The one that has nothing to do with the move. Come on, the Machine Room is the worst-performing retail sportsbook in Ohio. That’s a fact, according to WCPO.
Its location left it as the only retail sportsbook to fail to generate revenue for its operators. Instead, a net loss of more than $8,000. By contrast, Ohio’s best performing retail sports book, Hard Rock Cincinnati Casino, generated $1.6 million in taxable gaming receipts on $13 million in total bets.
Another issue is the ongoing college baseball scandal. The one which surfaced in April when an Indiana man placed a phone call to the coach at the University of Alabama just prior to placing a questionable bet at the Machine Room. The result of the bet cost the Crimson Tide coach his job and two coaches at Cincinnati.
There was no game to bet on when the Reds bought a leasehold interest from Galla Park’s operators before the night club closed in February.
Maybe it’s haunted.
“There was suspicious activity and behavior that the BetMGM staff noted and that triggered a notices from BetMGM to both U.S. Integrity and to the commission. That’s how it started,” Matt Schuler, executive director of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, told WCPO.
Schuler said the case was a win for regulators and he credited BetMGM for making it happen.
“Everybody involved did the right thing,” Schuler said. “Everybody involved did exactly what they were trained to do, and they did it thoroughly and they did it promptly.”
He said criminal or civil actions could emerge from the case.
