CLEVELAND — Football is king when it comes to sports betting in Ohio, with November being the second-highest wagering month at $864 million, behind only the $1.1 billion wagered in January of last year. became.
“The NFL season is a cash cow for sports betting states,” said Robert Linehan, sports betting regulations writer for Sports Betting Dime. “Now is the time for them to hit the big numbers, this is the time for them to run the big business.”
97% of bets continue to be placed online, with FanDuel leading the way with $293 million in handle, followed by DraftKings with $275 million.
“The big surprise this month is that ESPN Bet is the third most popular sports betting operator in Ohio in its first month of operation in the state,” Linnehan said of the rebranded site from Barstool Sportsbook. That’s what happened,” he said. ESPNbet’s November handle was $70.8 million, up from Barstool’s $19.8 million in October.
“We jumped over Bet365, which was doing very well in the state, we jumped over Caesars, you know, a lot of the apps that have been around for a long time,” Linnehan said. “They’re doing what they wanted to do. They’re on a pedestal of top three market share in the state.”
Interestingly, sports bettors bet 15.8% more in November than they did in October, but they got a lot of that back. Therefore, taxable income decreased by 15.4% from $80.5 million in October to $68.1 million in November.
Among brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, Jack Casino in downtown Cleveland had its best month in total monthly revenue with $3.58 million in wagers, which was higher than the start of January. Jack Thistledown’s stake was his $1.8 million and MGM Northfield Park’s was his $2.1 million. But four facilities in the state, including the Fanatics Sportsbook at Progressive Field, paid out more winnings than they collected in wagers.
The Browns began their march to the postseason in December, winning their final four games of the month, but Linnehan said, “You’ll definitely see the December numbers beat the November numbers.” ” he said.