The revenue table from the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) for the first four months of the year shows gamblers spent more than $3 billion through online and retail sports betting.
Those include sportsbooks and apps tied to casinos, ballparks and professional sports teams. Ohio received about $450 million in revenue.
The other regulatory arm—the Ohio Lottery—oversees kiosks in bars, restaurants and such. The kiosks had a handle of $4.3 million but only produced taxable revenue of $103,894. The lottery has discovered it costs $650,000 a year to keep this new division up and running.
“While we were tasked by the Legislature with starting the lottery sports gaming program, we knew that it was not going to be as lucrative as traditional lottery products. Unlike traditional lottery games that have fixed payouts and prize structures, sports gaming’s odds are volatile and change quickly, and sometimes proprietors take a loss. Lottery sports gaming is also competing against mobile sports betting which currently appears to have taken up 98 percent of the market in Ohio,” the lottery said in a statement.
The Ohio Lottery has five proprietors and more than 900 locations across the state, with a few more proprietors and hosts locations on the way, according to a spokesperson.
When any newly legalized sports betting state of notable size joins the national picture, there is considerable interest in its level of activity, and Ohio impressed on a massive scale with its January debut.
Ohio joined three other states in January to surpass $1.1 billion wagered in January.
January also included $320 million in promotional giveaways, advertising and pent up demands.
Promotional giveaways have vastly diminished since, as May reported just $24.2 million. And April volume from the commission reached $521 million, its lowest yet.
When the dust settles, Ohio should produce around $8 billion between online and in-person wagering. Not too shabby.
That may be only half the amount of what’s wagered in New York and three-fourths the level of New Jersey and Illinois, though it’s not to suggest there’s anything disappointing about it.
The commission analyzed the results and found February through April achieved $1.9 billion in bets, according to Sports Handle.
While a full year’s data would be even better from which to extrapolate, all of the recent numbers suggest that Ohio will be pitted alongside Pennsylvania in competition for the state with the nation’s fifth-biggest handle.
Ohio generates 97 percent of its handle online compared to 93 percent in Pennsylvania. Ohio receives about $1 million in handle each month from kiosks.
If the two states are indeed very similar in so many respects, those interested in Ohio’s betting should keep in mind that Pennsylvania’s total in 2022 added up to $7.25 billion. Nothing so far this year suggests the Keystone State will be much above that, if at all, in 2023.
Ohio’s sportsbooks in four months have combined for about $450 million in gross revenue, with $45 million of that going to the state under its 10 percent tax.
But it’s a pace they won’t keep up, as the $209.2 million in January revenue was a national record the state is unlikely to ever match. The revenue average in the three succeeding months has been $80 million.
