Ohio Surpasses New York Upon Online Sports Betting Market Launch

Ohio launched its regulated sports betting market on January 1, 2023, and geolocation services company GeoComply provided data on how the launch went during the first days of the new year.

GeoComply Records 11.3M Transactions in Ohio over New Year’s Weekend

According to GeoComply data, during the New Year’s weekend, Ohio surpassed even New York in terms of geolocation volume. While in New York the transactions were 9.3 million, GeoComply recorded 11.3 million in Ohio. Pennsylvania came in third with 8.2 million, while New Jersey was fourth with 6.7 million transactions.

Ohio residents are now part of the 44% of the US population that is able to place online bets with regulated sports betting operators. Revenues going to the state coffer from regulated sports betting will benefit various state programs for education, war veterans, and problem gambling.

Lindsay Slader, SVP of Compliance at GeoComply, welcomed the new market launch in Ohio: “We are thrilled to welcome another state into the regulated online sports betting sector. As expected, residents of the Buckeye State enthusiastically greeted the market at the moment the calendar changed over to 2023.”

There are 16 licensed online sports betting operators in Ohio and the state has a population of 11.8 million people. In the first hour of the new year, GeoComply recorded 234,000 geolocation transactions coming from the Buckeye State. 

During the first two days of 2023, GeoComply noted that 784,000 unique sports betting accounts of Ohio residents were active. Bettors were most enthusiastic in Cincinnati where GeoComply registered 1,898,000 geolocation transactions. Ohio’s largest city Columbus came in second with total transactions of 1,033,000. Cleveland and Toledo came in third and fourth with 772,000 and 619,000 respectively.

Ohio Launched Responsible Gambling Program Ahead of Market Launch

There were many preparations leading to the sports betting market launch in Ohio. One of the most important programs that the state made sure to have in place ahead of the start was a program for responsible gambling created by Ohio For Responsible Gambling.

The state introduced a new campaign to help people be aware of the problems that can arise from gambling and the issues connected to gambling addiction. This campaign is called Pause Before You Play, and has its foundation in the Get Set Before You Bet education program, which was earlier created by Ohio For Responsible Gambling.

The new responsible gambling campaign is based on research evidence, which shows that sports bettors and retail casino gamblers are those at the highest risk of developing a gambling addiction. According to 2017 study results, the risk stands at 24% for people gambling at casinos and 24.3% for those placing sports bets.