CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – In the first year of legal sports gambling in Ohio, $7.7 billion in wagers were placed between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023. According to data released by the Ohio Casino Control Commission, January saw the most amount wagered with $1,113,510,923, and July was the lowest month with $331,083,519.

Throughout the 2023 year, gamblers favored online and mobile gambling by 97%, with $7.4B of the $7.7B total placed online.

The bets, once winnings are paid and voided wagers are handled, were taxed by the state at 10% from January to June and 20% from July until now. That tax lead to the state making $187,388,451 in the first year alone. Sportsbooks took home almost $750,000,000.

The revenue the state made from sports gambling far exceeded the expectations when the legislation was initially discussed. According to the Legislative Budget Office, state sports gambling revenue was estimated to be around $19m in 2023, and $24m in 2024. The total of both estimated years combined was surpassed in April of 2023 alone. The State also believed the sports gambling market to “be approximately $3.35 billion, after several years of operation”, another threshold that was met within the first five months of operation.

Money from sports gambling is “used to support public and nonpublic education as determined in appropriations by the General Assembly, with 50% of the money to be used to fund interscholastic athletics and other extracurricular activities”.

Copyright 2024 WOIO. All rights reserved.