A number of new organisations have applied for Ohio sports betting licences, including Bet365 and Tipico as online providers, and high school Spire Institute – alongside a number of professional sports teams – for a proprietor licence.
Spire Institute is an Ohio sports-focused high school, with its athletic programs attracting top recruits including basketball star LaMelo Ball. The organisation also offers a general sporting development programs and operates sporting complexes on its grounds, outside of its presence as a high school.
Under Ohio’s sports betting laws, sporting organisations or land-based gaming venues may offer betting in the state, partnering with online operators for an online product.
It has partnered with Out the Gate, a startup sports betting operator that says it uses an in-house trading solution and plans to accept “all action” with lined that “lead the market on US sports”. Out the Gate is led by Christopher Kape and Robbie Manis, formerly of data provider Don Best Sports.
Meanwhile, many of the state’s numerous professional sports teams have also applied for licenses and agreed partnerships with online operators.
Following on from the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals applying for a license and agreeing a deal with Betfred, the Cleveland Browns have partnered with Bally’s and submitted their own application.
The NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers have partnered with streaming business Fubo, while Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians have a partnership with Bet365, and fellow MLB team the Cincinnati Reds will work with fantasy operator Underdog.
Major League Soccer teams FC Cincinnati and the Columbus Crew have partnered with Circa’s sports betting brand SuperBook and German betting giant Tipico, respectively.
The NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets have agreed a deal with Fanatics, which last week submitted its application for a mobile management services license before having agreed a partner. Fanatics does not yet have a sports betting product of its own, but rumors have swirled about its attempts to build or buy one. In April, a Fanatics spokesperson denied reports the business had agreed a source code deal with Amelco, before last month declining to comment on claims it had approached Tipico about a sale.
Fanatics has also received a license to offer retail wagering in Maryland.
Other new applicants include four Penn National Gaming casinos – Hollywood Casino Toledo, Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley, Hollywood Gaming Dayton Raceway and Hollywood Casino Columbus. Hollywood Casino Columbus is set to use the Barstool brand, the Toledo venue will partner with DraftKings and Mahoning Valley with PointsBet, while Dayton Raceway does not yet have a partner.
Canton-based casino Hall of Fame Village has agreed a partnership with Latin America-facing brand Instabet, an operator that is currently licensed in Curaçao and does not accept players based in the US.
BetMGM will partner with MGM’s Northfield Park venue.
Boyd gaming’s Belterra Park and Delaware North-Churchill Downs joint venture Miami Valley Gaming have also applied for licenses, but with no mobile partners so far.
Ohio licensees are permitted up to two mobile skins, but only if all existing licensees already have at least one, and they must prove that the second provides genuine economic value.
National market leader FanDuel applied for a mobile management services license last week, but has not yet agreed a partnership.
