Just days after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a new sports betting law, Rush Street Interactive (RSI) was among the first to jump into the fray.
While active sports betting is not expected in the state until 2023, RSI has signaled early interest in the market with a 10-year deal with the Hall of Fame Village to offer in-person sports betting on their property in Canton.
DeWine signed HB 29, which legalized sports betting and online casinos in Ohio, on December 22. The announcement from RSI and the Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company (HOFV), which operates the village surrounding the Pro Football Hall of Fame, came the following day.
The 10-year deal allows RSI to operate a premier retail sportsbook at the HOFV — a multi-use sports, entertainment, and media destination surrounding the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. The deal also includes an exciting sponsorship component, allowing RSI to leverage HOFV’s signage, branding, and certain media assets.
Operations Expected to Start in 2023
DeWine’s decision to sign HB 29 into law effectively legalized sports betting in Ohio. As the new regime has only just now come into effect, the impacts on the ground so far are minimal.
Operators are now free to begin the process of making deals for the Ohio market, applying for licenses, and getting operations set to run. It is expected that operators will be online taking bets by the start of 2023.
The new law opens the market to both online and retail gaming spaces. Licenses under the new regime come in three types:
- Type A: a sports gaming proprietor licensed by the Ohio Casino Control Commission to offer sports gaming through an online sports pool.
- Type B: a sports gaming proprietor licensed by the OCCC to offer sports gaming at a sports gaming facility.
- Type C: a sports gaming proprietor licensed by the OCCC to offer sports gaming through self-service or clerk-operated sports gaming terminals located at type C sports gaming hosts.
The new legislation allows for up to 25 Type A licenses, along with 40 Type B licenses, and between two and 20 Type C licenses. Applications for licenses are now open and operators can begin the process of getting set up.
The bill stipulates that only one sports betting facility can be located in a county with a population of at least 100,000, but less than 400,000 — unless the Ohio Lottery operates video lottery terminals in the county. Under the latter scenario, not more than two sports betting facilities would be allowed in the county.
That stipulation, which is based on 2010 federal census data, would include 22 of Ohio’s 88 counties and would include the cities of Canton and Youngstown.
HB 29 also stipulates that no more than three sports betting facilities can be located in counties with a population of at least 400,000, but less than 800,000. That would include three counties — Lucas, Montgomery, and Summit — which are home to the cities of Toledo, Dayton, and Akron, respectively.
Cities with a population of 800,000 or more could have no more than five sports betting facilities. Again, three counties fit that category — Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton — which include the major cities of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, respectively.
The verbiage likely means that the state will allow MLB’s Cleveland Guardians (formerly the Indians) and Cincinnati Reds to open sportsbooks, as well as the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, and the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.
State Sen. Kirk Schuring (R-Canton) spoke about the benefits of the new bill.
“This is going to benefit the state of Ohio economically,” Schuring told WEWS-TV in Cleveland. “We all know that sports gaming is going on — right now, as we speak — illegally, and we’re going to put the necessary regulatory guardrails around it to make sure that it’s done correctly here in Ohio.”
The latest deal with HOFV to provide sports betting at HOFV looks to be one of the first forays into Ohio under the new legislation, but it surely won’t be the last. Ohio gaming is now open for business.
