Cleveland Browns, Bobby George announce plans for new sportsbook downtown on East Fourth Street

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Bobby George and the Cleveland Browns will join forces to open a new sportsbook on East Fourth Street in downtown Cleveland, overcoming what seemed like long odds for a sports betting lounge at Harry Buffalo’s current location.

George said the sportsbook will be part of a new entertainment concept and will open within a year. The Harry Buffalo will move to a new space downtown, he said.

The Browns announced the plan in a news release Saturday afternoon. The team said its sports-betting partner, Bally Bet, would also be involved and that it would be called the Bally Bet Sportsbook.

Initially, George and the Browns planned to open their own, separate sportsbooks. But the partnership lets both of them get around some obstacles.

Before any sportsbooks had opened, Harry Buffalo had applied to state regulators for a “Type-B” license, which would allow George to build a physical, casino-style sports betting operation. The problem wasthat there weren’t enough licenses to go around.

Cuyahoga County is limited to just five sportsbooks and existing casinos and racinos and sports teams got precedence. With the Browns, Cavaliers and Guardians all getting licenses, and JACK Casino and Jack Thistledown Racino getting licenses, George was sixth in line.

Ohio lawmakersearlier this year attempted to increase the limit to seven per county, but the change did not make the final version of the state budget.

George said he had thoughthe would eventually get his own license, but that during the process he started having conversations with the Browns and Bally’sInteractive.

“I felt like this would be a much more exciting thing and we could bring much more to the city,” George said.

Partnering with George also helps the Browns get around NFL rules about gameday bets at stadiums.

According to NFL policy, teams can have a retail sportsbook at the stadium, but they can’t be open on days when the home team is playing there.

Under these rules, if a sportsbook was at FirstEnergy stadium, it would have had to close this past Sunday during the home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Cavaliers and Guardians don’t have a similar rule from their leagues. The Cavaliers opened their sportsbook when betting became legal on Jan. 1. The Guardians opened its sportsbook in August.

By putting the sportsbook on East FourthStreet, the Browns’ betting operation can open during home games.

George said the current Harry Buffalo location will go through a complete remodel. He said the exact plans are still being finalized, but that the new restaurant will have rooftop seating.

It will also be the fourth sportsbook in that area. Progressive Field, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and the Jack Cleveland Casino are all a 10-minute walk, or closer.

“I love competition,” George said.

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/.