Ohio Will Allow Early Sports Betting Registration

The state of Ohio will officially launch legal sports betting on January 1, 2023, as that date was included when the initial bill was signed. Even though that date is still well into the future, news has continued to trickle out from the Ohio Casino Control Commission.

The CCC has been put in charge of regulating the industry, and that also means that it has been receiving the sports betting applications. It’s been a slow-moving process up to this point, but things should start to pick up soon.

This week it was announced that approved sportsbooks are eligible to start recruiting customers before the official launch date. This same strategy has been used in other states, and it helps the state get off to a good start on day one.

One thing that the CCC did warn sportsbooks about though, is that all of the language used in the recruitment has to be factual. Using a term such as “free bet” is not allowed in some instances where the bettor would have to make a wager before receiving the bonus.

It was also announced that GeoComply has been approved to operate in the state to track the location of bettors. GeoComply is a company based out of Canada, but it serves nearly all of the US states that offer online sports betting.

10 Operators Approved

There could be up to 40 online sports betting operators that go live in the state of Ohio, but it’s not going to all happen at once. Professional teams in the state of Ohio are eligible to partner with a sports betting operator, but betting cannot be offered at the stadium or arena.

The Casino Control Commission handed out the first 10 licenses last week, and there were some big names on the list. DraftKings was actually one glaring omission from the first report, but that company will likely make its way into the state before the January 1 launch.

Some of the biggest names to already have received an online license include BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars, and FanDuel Sportsbook.

Work Still to Be Done

Even though the Casino Control Commission appears to be making significant progress, there is still plenty of work left to do. Because there are three types of licenses available, the CCC has been flooded with applicants over the last few weeks.

Sports betting will be up and running on January 1, 2023, but it’s likely going to be a slow process to get the entire industry ready to go. Smaller sportsbooks will likely remain out of the market altogether at the beginning as they don’t have the ability to compete with the massive bonuses and offers from the top sites.

Ohio sportsbooks would receive a huge boost if the Ohio State Buckeyes were playing in the College Football Playoff in the early part of January.