Not even the Super Bowl could prop up Ohio sports betting in February. The Ohio Casino Gaming Control Commission reported $66.28 million in total revenue on a $671.1 million handle across all online and retail sports betting in the Buckeye State for February.
This was the lowest revenue reported since August 2023 brought in just over $40 million. The total handle declined month-over-month as well, dropping from January’s $810.4 million.
Retail sportsbooks in Ohio incurred a $122,288 revenue loss, something that didn’t occur once in 2023. Only $13.37 million was wagered at Ohio retail sportsbooks though, while online sportsbooks in Ohio collected $657.7 million in wagers in February.
Ohio online sports betting sites enjoyed a 10.1% hold though, which isn’t quite as strong as the 13.9% hold in January but is still on par with positive hold percentages that have now hit double figures in 12 of the last 14 months.
In the bigger picture, Ohio sports betting is still trending in the right direction with a slight year-over-year increase in total handle from February 2023’s $639,043,424. This most recent handle places the Ohio sports betting market in the Top 5 of total handle for the month of February behind New York, New Jersey, and Nevada.
Best Online Sportsbooks in Ohio
Fanduel and DraftKings take up the lion’s share of the Ohio sports betting marketplace, accounting for a combined handle of $444,210,116, nearly 70% of the overall online sports betting handle in February. FanDuel collected just $211,648 more in online bets than DraftKings did, with each operator’s online handle coming in at $222,210,882 and $221,999,234 respectively.
FanDuel topped DraftKings in revenue for the third consecutive month, potting just over $28 million compared to DraftKings’ $24.16 million.
bet365 nabbed third place in both total online handle and revenue with $44.64 million and $4.2 million in those categories. BetMGM also leapfrogged ESPN Bet in total handle month-over-month too, but fell just $141,080 shy of the revenue mark.
Here’s a complete breakdown of the Top 6 online sportsbooks in Ohio.
| Operator | February Handle | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| FanDuel | $222.2 million | $28 million |
| DraftKings | $221.9 million | $24.1 million |
| bet365 | $44.6 million | $4.2 million |
| BetMGM | $42.5 million | $3.1 million |
| ESPN Bet | $40.8 million | $3.2 million |
| Caesars Sportsbook | $29.2 million | $963K |
Other Ohio Sports Betting news
Ohio sports betting made headlines for reasons that were not particularly glamorous in February.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine went to bat for NCAA President Charlie Baker’s request to remove player prop bets from the Ohio sports betting catalog due to concerns over compromising the integrity of college athletics.
Ohio Casino Control Commission executive director Matthew Schuler then approved the NCAA’s request and effectively banned “player-specific prop bets” on college sports events, with the ban taking full effect as of March 1.
Most recently, an organization called Ohio For Responsible Gambling reported that a recent survey found that problem gambling has tripled since 2021, with nearly 1 in 5 Ohio adults considered to be "at risk" for problem gambling.
Ohio legalized sports betting in January 2023 and has quickly grown to be one of the most prolific legal markets in the United States. February’s performance shows that sports betting is still very much alive and well in the Buckeye State, so it will remain to be seen how these recent developments affect the market moving forward.
