Ohio sports betting started with a bang in January, with a month that produced more than $1 billion in handle. The December revenue report from the Ohio Casino Control Commission couldn’t match those numbers, but 2023 did end on a high note with almost $830 million in wagers, the third-best month ever for state operators.
97% of Ohio sports bets placed online
Across the first year of Ohio sports betting, 97% of all wagers were placed online and much of the fanfare around the expansive opportunities to bring kiosks to restaurants and grocery stores in the state proved to be slightly overblown.
In total, the state sports betting market accepted $7.6 billion in bets and generated $936.9 million in revenue.
Across the year, FanDuel led the way, grabbing 43% of the market. DraftKings averaged 30% market share on the year. BetMGM and bet365 were neck-and-neck for the final podium position with 7% and 8% market share respectively.
Penn finished fifth in the ranks for the year, but had a strong December under the ESPN Bet brand. FanDuel and DraftKings led the way for the month with $289 million and $261.3 million in bets respectively, while ESPN Bet came in third with $72.9 million in bets.
The number is only slightly above the $70.8 million the brand accepted in November despite the fact that December was the first full month of operation for the ESPN Bet brand.
ESPN Bet has spent $40M in promo cred in Ohio
Once again ESPN Bet spent more on promotional credits than competitors. The spending did come down from the $29 million in November, with $11.3 million in December spending. That amount at least put it in the same ballpark as the $9.2 million DraftKings doled out or the $7 million FanDuel put into promo cred.
With $37.4 million in revenue, FanDuel held an impressive 12.9%. DraftKings held just shy of 10% $25.4 million in revenue and ESPN Bet managed over 11% hold with $8.2 million in revenue.
With so much promotional credit spending though, ESPN Bet has spent over $40 million in promotional credit to generate less than half that amount in GGR.
Bet365 and BetMGM rounded out the top five operators for the month.
