Ohioans bet $380 million on sports in August

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio’s sports-betting companies had another slower than usual month in August, which was the last month this year without professional football (unless you count the NFL preseason as “real” football).

Combined, the companies took in $380 million of bets, according to compiled data from the Ohio Casino Control and Ohio Lottery commissions. After paying out winnings and voided wagers, the companies ended up with $41 million in revenue.

Ohioans have placed just over $4.5 billion in bets in 2023, with most of that coming in January ($1.1 billion), February ($640 million) and March ($739 million). Betting slowed to $522 million in April, and hasn’t been over $500 million since. It’s likely because the NFL and NBA seasons winded down, but Ohio does not require sports-betting companies to report sport-specific data.

This is up from July, when Ohioans bet just $332 million in total. That month the sportsbooks brought in $37 million in revenue.

Betting tends to slow in the summers and picks up in the fall, when both the NFL and NBA seasons start again. With the NFL season kicking off on Sept. 7, next month’s numbers are likely to much higher.

Ohio’s 19 mobile-betting apps took in the majority of the action, with a combined $364 million in bets and$39 million in revenue. One new app, Bally Bet, started accepting wagers in August.

The state’s 16 in-person betting lounges took in $14 million in bets, and came away with just under $2 million in revenue. Two new betting lounges also opened in August.

The Lottery’s betting kiosks, found in bars and restaurants, took in $743,000 of bets and had $59,000 of revenue.

Four sports-betting companies were in the red in August. The Caesars Sportsbook in downtown Cleveland, the SuperBook sportsbook in Cincinnati, the BetMGM sportsbook at the MGM Northfield Park and Caesars Sportsbook at the Scioto Downs racino in Columbus all posted negative revenue in August, according to the Casino Control Commission’s monthly report. The companies were all only slightly in the red.

So far, Ohio has netted just under $70 million of tax revenue from sports betting, which became legal on Jan. 1.

Sean McDonnell covers business and consumer topics for cleveland.com. You can reach him at [email protected] You can read more Cleveland business stories at cleveland.com/business/.