Sports betting has been legal in Ohio since Jan. 1, 2023, and residents now have 13 licensed sportsbook apps and 13 retail betting locations to choose from, all overseen by the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed the law authorizing sports betting, House Bill 29, in December 2021. It took more than a year for the state to set up licensing and approve operators, and mobile and retail betting officially began at the start of 2023. Since then, more than 10 different sportsbooks have been licensed to operate online or in person across the state.
Who Can Bet, and On What
Anyone 21 or older who is physically located in Ohio can place a legal wager, whether through a mobile app or at a retail sportsbook. Ohio residency is not required, but bettors must be within state lines when they place a bet.
Bettors can wager on professional and collegiate sports, including sides, totals and spreads. One restriction applies across the board: Ohio does not allow betting on individual college player props.
The state has plenty of local teams to bet on. The NFL’s Bengals and Browns, MLB’s Guardians and Reds, the NBA’s Cavaliers and the NHL’s Blue Jackets all give Ohio bettors professional options, while Ohio State’s football program is among the most heavily bet-on college teams in the country.
Where to Bet in Person
Most of Ohio’s 13 retail sportsbooks are located inside casinos, though two are at racinos — Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway and JACK Thistledown Racino. Retail locations include:
- Belterra Park (FanDuel) – Anderson Township
- Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs (Caesars) – Columbus
- Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati (Hard Rock Bet) – Cincinnati
- Hollywood Casino Columbus (ESPN BET) – Columbus
- Hollywood Casino Toledo (ESPN BET) – Toledo
- Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway (ESPN BET) – Dayton
- Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley (ESPN BET) – Youngstown
- JACK Cleveland Casino (betJACK) – Cleveland
- JACK Thistledown Racino (betJACK) – North Randall
- MGM Northfield Park (BetMGM) – Northfield
- Miami Valley Gaming (MVGBet) – Lebanon
- BetMGM Sportsbook at The Banks – Cincinnati
- Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (Caesars) – Cleveland
Sign-Up Offers and What They Mean
New bettors are often courted with welcome offers such as profit boosts, deposit matches and bet-and-get promotions. A profit boost typically doubles a bettor’s odds — for example, a $100 bet at +100 odds combined with a 100% profit boost would pay out $300 instead of $200 if it wins. Deposit matches give bettors bonus funds equal to what they deposit, usable for wagers but not withdrawable as cash. Bet-and-get offers reward a small initial wager, such as $10, with a larger amount of bonus bets, such as $250.
Because odds and promotions vary by app, many bettors in Ohio use more than one sportsbook to compare offers before placing a wager.
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