Small businesses reflect on first year of legal sports betting in Ohio after failed expectations
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - Sports betting has been big business for the state of Ohio since it became legal almost one year ago. Billions of dollars have been wagered in Ohio through 10 months. However, that big time money isn't being funneled through the small businesses, bars and restaurants who hoped to benefit from legal sports gambling.
BetOhio.com shows $5.8+ billion in bets and more than $761 million in revenue for the year through October. Almost all of that money is pouring in through mobile betting apps.
"Ohio is one of the top markets for sports betting. It's bringing in a lot of tax dollars," John Jost, Vice President of BetSkyBox, a company that holds a Type-C sports gaming host license in Ohio.
According to BetOhio.com, the state of Ohio has collected over $99 million in taxes from legal sports gambling through October.
"We didn't know mobile would dominate this much," said Jost.
BetSkyBox places betting kiosks in bars and restaurants across the state including nine in Central Ohio. The bar gets a commission of the revenue from the bets placed in the kiosk.
"The market share is 90% mobile. At least, 90% to 95%. The remaining five to 10% is split up among the casinos, the racinos, and then the bars and restaurants," said Jost. "Overall, it's been pretty challenging. So, in Ohio mobile betting, the apps, the Draftkings, Fanduels of the world, they really dominate the market right now.”
Jost thinks legal sports betting is still bringing more excitement for watching sports at a bar or restaurant, and is good for business.
"People want to stay longer, instead of leaving after the first half or first quarter they're going to stay for the entire game to play out to see if they've won their bet. Obviously that means more drink and food sales," he said.
However, Ed Gaughan who owns 'The O on Lane' doesn't see a boost from sports betting, even if it adds a little more fun on game days right across the street on the Ohio State campus.
"I would say no not really. I mean, it's probably at the point where it's so minute you couldn't really tell," he answered when asked if sports betting had an impact on his restaurant's bottom-line this year.
NBC4 was at his restaurant in January when a company called Gold Rush Gaming installed a betting kiosk. Gaughan had high hopes for offering the betting option for patrons.
"If expectations were 100, it was a 0. So like, honestly when it was first announced we thought it was going to help drive people out, get them back in the bars, get them back into pre-covid habits and that kind of stuff," he said.
Mobile sports betting apps like Draft Kings and FanDuel are the biggest players in sports betting in Ohio, sitting atop the revenue list for each month in 2023 so far. Gaughan points to their dominance as a reason why people don't want to, or need to, use a kiosk in person.
"With the apps on the phones and people betting on that and getting used to it at that point, it just never really took off. So, I think they took the machines out, not just here but everywhere around August this past year. There's so many different things you can do that's a lot more fun, a lot more entertaining than you could on these machines," Gaughan said.
Gaughan's agreement with Gold Rush Gaming allowed him to make commission off of bets placed in his restaurant. He said when they removed the kiosk in the late summer, his commission was $0.
"The restaurant, bar industry never really, nobody never really took advantage of it or was able to take anything out of it. I wish it was better," he said.
Gold Rush Gaming has removed all of its sports betting kiosks in the state of Ohio as of Oct. 3, 2023.