Ohio Sports Betting Revenue Tops $113 Million in January

State's Sportsbooks Report Second-Best Month on Record

March 6, 20240 59 3 minutes readGambling News

Ohio Sports Betting Revenue Tops $113 Million in January — Photo taken from yogonet.com

Online Wager Honchos
Ohio State, a Big Winner With Sports Betting
Ohio Sportsbooks' Huge Giveaways

January turned out to be a pretty good month for sportsbooks in the state of Ohio. The Ohio Casino Control Commission’s report showed Ohio sports betting revenue was $113.2 million for January 2024. That is the second-highest revenue reported for a month, trailing only January 2023, when the state’s sportsbooks first went live. More than $810 million was bet in the state for the month.

Of the $810 million handle, more than $792 million was wagered online. The state’s 15 retail sportsbooks saw $18.3 million in wagers during the month and showed revenue of $2.5 million. Online wagering showed a profit of $110.6 million, so the hold was pretty similar. Online wagering showed a hold of 13.96%, and retail sportsbooks were at 13.73%. The top three retail sportsbooks also offer casino games and slot games, so bettors get the full array of gambling opportunities.

Online Wager Honchos

As expected, when it came to online wagers, DraftKings and FanDuel were the two at the top of the mountain. FanDuel received $282.7 million in wagers and showed revenue of $52.9 million. DraftKings reported $33.9 million in revenue on $254.2 million in wagers. The two sportsbooks accounted for roughly 78% of the Ohio sports betting revenue from online betting.

The second tier of online sportsbooks includes Bet365, ESPN Bet, and BetMGM. Each sportsbook took in between $59.8 million and $49.6 million in wagers during the month. Bet365 reported the highest revenue of the three, at $6.2 million. ESPN Bet had the smallest revenue and added $4.6 million to the month’s Ohio sports betting revenue fund.

Caesars isn’t far behind the second tier, reporting $2.4 million in revenue on $35.4 million in wagers. Seminole Hard Rock was the only other online sportsbook to receive more than $10 million in wagers for the month. Five of the 19 online sportsbooks took in less than $1 million in bets, and two online sportsbooks, Bally’s Interactive and Prime Sports, reported losses for the month.

Ohio State, a Big Winner With Sports Betting

Sports betting has been good to the State of Ohio. January’s tax receipts will total $22.6 million, bringing the state’s total revenue from sports betting to nearly $210 million. The state gives 98% of tax revenue from sports betting to education. The remaining 2% goes towards problem gambling.

Ohio’s revenue has been high in part due to its regulations on promotional sports betting credits. Some states allow the sportsbooks to deduct all or a portion of promotional expenditures, but Ohio isn’t one of them. The state’s sportsbooks will be able to deduct 10% of promotional credits from revenue beginning in 2027. That figure will increase to 20% in 2032.

Ohio Sportsbooks’ Huge Giveaways

Ohio sportsbooks gave away $40 million in promotional credits in January. Roughly two-thirds of the promotional credits came from FanDuel and DraftKings. Bet365, ESPN Bet and BetMGM each gave away more than $2.5 million in wagers for the month. Fanatics was the only other sportsbook to hand out more than $1 million in promotional wagers. Many promotional credits are used for higher-risk bets, such as parlays that require a betting odds calculator to determine the payout. Bettors figure a losing wager won’t cost them anything, so why not aim high?

February’s revenue will likely show a decrease due to the end of the football season. There is expected to be an increase in March for the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

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