What you need to know before placing your first sports bet in Ohio

Sports betting is about to become legal in the state of Ohio. It goes live on New Year's Day. There are already ads for it everywhere. DraftKings is offering a $100,000 bonus bet for new customers. The bonuses will be tempered down. Early projections show Ohio could become one of the most popular states when it comes to sports betting. The market is estimated to be worth $9-12 billion. They are also talking about kiosks, the retail sports books and the online apps.

Before placing your first sports bet in Ohio, you need to know how a spread and moneyline work. If you are betting the favorite, the bettor gives up a certain amount of points to keep it even. If the underdog loses by less than the spread number, then you lose that bet.

Oddsmakers set the number of points that can be bet on a game between two teams. Over is bet for high-scoring games and under is for low-scoring games.

Individual Prop Bets are growing in popularity. Fans can bet on specific athletes and what they will accomplish during a game.

A parlay involves multiple bets lumped together. It's a high margin bet for the operators and a low margin one for players.

Sports betting in Ohio is limited to the actions of the athletes on the field of play. Prop bets like the coin toss, the national anthem, or the color of Gatorade poured on a winning coach are not allowed. The sports books at the JACK Casino and JACK Thistledown Racino are already open to customers. Online sports betting sites are offering free bets if customers sign up with them before January 1.