Ohio Betting Activity And Revenue On The Rise Again

The legal sports betting industry in Ohio saw the start of a rebound in activity in August with a 14.4% increase over the prior month’s volume to reach $378.8 million in total handle among retail and online sportsbooks.

The monthly data released Monday by the Ohio Casino Control Commission confirmed the Buckeye State will be like others in which sports betting bottoms out in mid-summer and August begins bringing a resurgence as initial football play gets underway. A larger increase in September likely also occurred.

Taxable revenue of $40.8 million in August was up 9.8% from July, representing a healthy 10.8% hold rate among sportsbook operators statewide. Under Ohio’s 20% tax rate, which was doubled from 10% starting July 1, the state would have received $8.1 million as its share.

The popular football season typically brings a boost in promotional activity such as bonus bets and profit boosts by online operators as they compete for customers, and that was reflected in how promotions grew 42% over the prior month to $15.2 million in August.

Although no month’s revenue in Ohio has come close to the record of $209.6 million operators won in January, the total revenue in the state reached $617.4 million in the first eight months of legal betting.

The state had 19 mobile sportsbooks and 15 retail locations in operation in August.

DraftKings leads in handle a second month

For the second straight month, DraftKings surpassed FanDuel in usage among online platforms but the latter earned more revenue.

DraftKings took $133.8 million in bets, up 15.2% from July, and kept $12.6 million as its winnings.

FanDuel increased betting handle by just 8.6%, to $115.8 million, and was able to retain $15.3 million. Its hold rate of 13.2% was well above DraftKings’ 9.4%.

Between them, the two industry titans claimed 68.4% of online betting handle in the state, with their 17 smaller competitors combining for less than one-third of the overall volume.

One operator on an upward trajectory is Fanatics Sportsbook, which went into full operations in Ohio in mid-August after months of beta testing.

It more than doubled its July handle to reach seventh place in the state at $6.9 million, with reported revenue of $1.4 million. Due to its promotional giveaways of $2.8 million to draw customers’ attention, however, Fanatics actually took a net loss overall for the month. The volume of its promotions trailed only DraftKings’ $4.8 million and FanDuel’s $3.2 million.

BetMGM and bet365 have been in close competition for the third most active site in Ohio, with bet365 taking $27.6 million in August bets and BetMGM reporting handle of $26.5 million. BetMGM led in revenue, however, $3.2 million to $2.2 million.

Among other leading online operators, Caesars Sportsbook had handle of $17.9 million and revenue of $1.8 million, Barstool Sportsbook reported volume of $12.5 million and revenue just above $1 million, and Hard Rock Bet took $5.6 million in bets while keeping $450,272.

Unusual among operators, Tipico, after seeing a nice betting increase between June and July, declined slightly in handle in August to $4.6 million, with $400,173 in revenue.

Three retail books lost money

While dwarfed by the volume of phone and computer betting, in-person wagering at sportsbooks at casinos, racinos, and sports-related venues experienced a nice 26.6% boost in activity in August, reaching combined handle of $14.5 million. They saw $1.4 million in revenue.

For the second straight month, however, the Caesars Sportsbooks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and Scioto Downs both lost money. The Cleveland facility tied to the Cavaliers franchise lost $21,330 on $1.2 million in bets, and the sportsbook at the Columbus racino lost $2,393 on $713,141 in wagers.

Also reporting a loss was the second-busiest sportsbook, BetMGM’s at MGM Northfield Park, which had handle of nearly $2 million and lost $31,016.

The most successful venue was Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati, with revenue of $349,216 from $1.9 million in bets. The biggest handle was at Hollywood Casino Columbus, which took $2.8 million in August bets and kept $241,952. JACK Cleveland saw $1.8 million in bets and $231,365 in revenue.