Many who ask how to start a bookie website are asking about the risks of putting up their very own sportsbooks during a pandemic. We do get some of those questions a lot recently. When we do, we always show them the US sports betting market as the perfect answer. Despite the pandemic, sports betting thrives. And it continues to do so. It’s a billion-dollar industry in the US. Of course, it is expected to grow even more as more states consider expanding or legalizing their local betting markets. Ohio, for instance, will be losing out on potential revenue as neighboring states are opening the doors to sportsbooks. Let’s find out the plans for sports betting in Ohio for 2021, and see if we will finally see online sportsbooks in the state.
Sports Betting in Ohio in 2021
The Ohio Senate is forming a Senate Select Committee on Gaming. This committee will be overseeing gambling regulation and to determine the economic impact of gambling and sports betting in Ohio. So far, there are no schedules for committee meetings, but the members are already announced. They aim to review best practices in the gambling industry, as well as other oversight matters. This is a great way for the state to refine their sports betting policy. Especially since Michigan recently launched their online casino and online sports betting markets. Many online bookie pay per head operators are seeing a lot of betting activity, so the demand for sports betting is steady, if not increasing.
This is not Ohio’s first venture into sports betting. An amended sports betting bill was filed late last year, but was not reviewed and approved. The bill proposes to allow licensed casinos and racetracks to allow retail and online sports betting. Each license will only have 1 online skin instead of 3. Furthermore, they also propose an 8% tax on gaming receipts. The license will cost $200,000 every three years. Currently, we do not know if they will stick to the parameters of the old bill, or if they will be open to adding more online gambling features and providers. For instance, if you are to read bookie pay per head reviews, you will see that online sports betting actually has a lot of options- live betting, college sports betting, and the like. But the need to improve the gambling market in Ohio definitely needs to be acted upon.
