Ohio bars seek licenses to offer sports betting from 2023
July 20, 2022
The law passed in Ohio’s congress to liberalize the state’s betting laws kicked up a gear this past week when the licensing process for selected bars to become betting vendors began. of the 1009 premises considered to be pre-qualified for a license, 125 were understood to have submitted their applications by a count taken on Saturday, July 23rd. The licenses would permit each bar to host sports betting kiosks on their premises.
The license in question comes with some limitations. As what is considered a Type C licensee, each sports betting kiosk would only be able to accept certain types of bets, and would place limits on the amount of money that could be bet in a week by a customer. These are limitations that do not apply to Type A licenses, which are granted to online sports betting providers, or to the Type B version which covers retail sportsbooks.
Applicants who are successful in this round of applications will be allowed to offer sports betting from their facilities as of January 1st, 2023. The closing date for these applications is set at August 16th; while facilities will still be permitted to submit applications after that date, they will not be guaranteed the chance to offer sports betting as of New Year’s Day. This would be seen as a very advantageous time to be allowed to offer betting, as it comes just ahead of the beginning of the NFL playoffs.
As part of a complicated procedure, Ohioan bars will, once granted the license, be permitted to choose from a list of providers that has been pre-approved by the Ohio Casino Control Commission. The seven providers in question are all eligible to start offering their services from bars in the state as a result of filing their application ahead of the July 15th deadline. Other providers may yet apply, but will not be eligible for the first round of kiosk openings expected to take place in January.
Meanwhile, mobile sports betting in the state is seeing developments in its provision, with online betting providers now making a move to become what is known as a mobile management services provider for the state’s existing casinos and sportsbooks. The big-name provider BetRivers is making its incursion into Ohio sports betting by applying to become an MMSP for the Hollywood Casino in Columbus.
Such a license will not come cheap for any betting provider who seeks to apply for it. As part of the law passed in December 2021, sports teams in the state – such as the Cleveland Browns football team or the Cincinnati Reds in baseball – are entitled to preferential treatment on the licenses and can acquire them for $1.5million. Providers such as BetRivers must apply to become the second MMSP for facilities like the ball clubs that already have one. That license comes at the elevated cost of $5 million, but that doesn’t appear to have put off any of the providers who have so far applied.
