This article is part of our Ohio Betting News series.
On January 1, 2023, legal Ohio sports betting is slated to launch. With a launch date intact, we are already seeing generous pre-live Ohio betting promos deployed by some of the most popular sports betting apps to give new users a chance to grow their bankroll from the get-go.
On launch day, we could expect to see several sportsbooks that include FanDuel Ohio Sportsbook and DraftKings Ohio Sportsbook up and running once Ohio sports betting goes live at the top of the new year.
In this article, we are going to dissect what to expect from legal Ohio sports betting once it goes live including how the Buckeye State compares to other states in which legal mobile sports betting is currently live and operational, as well as what the overall betting handle could look like and our projections for the Ohio betting market in general.
How Ohio Compares To Other States Where Mobile Sports Betting Is Already Legal
When it comes to projecting the mobile sports betting market in Ohio, one of the best ways to do so is by finding states with similar populations and comparing them. Using the 2020 Census, Ohio is the seventh largest state in terms of population with roughly 11.8 million people.
This puts Ohio just behind sixth-ranked Illinois with a differential of roughly 1 million people. Ohio is just ahead of eighth-ranked Georgia with a difference of roughly 1.1 million people. However, since sports betting is not yet legal in Georgia, we need to dig a little deeper.
The next state below Ohio in the Census that features legal sports betting is Michigan with a population of roughly 10.1 million people.
In a situation like this, we can expect Ohio's numbers to fall somewhere in between Illinois and Michigan.
What Kind Of Sports Betting Handle Could We Expect To See In Ohio?
Legal sports betting in Ohio is set to launch on January 1, 2023, at the top of the new year, which means that January will be the first full month of live Ohio sportsbooks
Below, you will see how Illinois and Michigan fared in the first January that both states had legal sports betting.
| State | First January Sports Betting Handle |
| Illinois | $581.6 million (2021) |
| Michigan | $150.8 million (2021) |
In the chart above, you can see that the first January that Illinois sports betting was live brought in a $581.6 million handle. Meanwhile, the first January in Michigan managed a $150.8 million handle.
While there is a vast difference, we must take into consideration that there are roughly 2.7 million fewer people in Michigan than there are in Illinois. Furthermore, Illinois sports betting was already up and running for months once the state hit its first January while Michigan's initial January was the state's inaugural month of legal sports betting overall.
Furthermore, sports betting in Michigan launched on January 22, 2021. Therefore, with 10 days of revenue at $150.8 million, that extrapolates to $467.48 million over the course of the month.
Since we already know that both FanDuel Sportsbook Ohio and DraftKings Sportsbook Ohio will go live on the 1/1/23 Ohio sports betting launch day, we should expect Ohio's initial handle to start off with a bang, especially since new users can sign up ahead of time while securing pre-live welcome offers.
Now, here is how legal online sports betting has grown in similar states to Ohio in terms of population in the first year of legalization.
| State | January 2021 | January 2022 |
| Michigan | $150.8 million | $532.7 million |
| State | June 2020 | June 2021 |
| Illinois | $8.3 million | $476.5 |
It is important to note that when mobile sports betting launched in Illinois, BetRivers was the only sportsbook that was live, which is why that number is so low. You can see how much the handle has grown a year later since there were five additional mobile operators up and running in June of 2021.
If Ohio sports betting was legal to operate in June of 2021, we could project that its handle would fall between $476.5 million and $532.7 million with a rough median of $504.6 million also factoring in population.
BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook, two of the biggest Ohio sportsbooks in the market, both have generous welcome offers to attract new bettors in the state of Ohio. The BetMGM Ohio Bonus Code ROTOBONUS is offering $200 in free bets at registration, and the Caesars Sportsbook Ohio Promo Code ROTOTIX is offering a $100 free bet along with an entry for Cavs tickets.
FanDuel Sportsbook Ohio also has a welcome offer for new users that sign up with the FanDuel Ohio Promo Code, giving them $100 in free bets on launch day, plus a three month subscription to NBA League Pass.
Along with the others, new users can sign up with DraftKings using the DraftKings Ohio Promo Code to get $200 in bonus bets and get entered into the $100k Free Bet Sweepstakes, during which five new customers will be randomly chosen to receive a $100k free bet on launch day.
Ohio Online Sports Wagering Handle Projection
Since Ohio is slated to have some of the best sports betting apps available for its users on launch day, expect Ohio's initial handle to exceed the results we have seen in both Illinois and Michigan.
While there are five sportsbooks confirmed to be live and operational on launch day, there are at least another five sportsbooks expected to go live shortly thereafter that are already approved by the state.
With a slew of sports betting operators set to go live from the get-go in one of the largest states in the upper 48, it may not take long for the Ohio sports betting handle to grow into one of the largest in its region.
It also helps that Ohio has one of the largest sports-fan bases overall when it comes to pro and college sports, which is a big reason why PlayOhio is projecting an $8 million sports betting handle in its inaugural year.
