Cincinnati isn’t the largest city in Ohio, but they are the top sports betting city in the state according to cyber-security compliance company GeoComply. The cyber security company reported 160 million security checks in January from 2.25 million unique accounts, with 38.18 million of those security checks from the Cincinnati area.
The home city of the Reds and Bengals edged out larger cities Cleveland (31.38 million) and Columbus (25.05 million), and Cincinnati has the Bengals playoff run and a rise in Kentucky gamblers crossing state lines and wagering on fixed-odds sporting events.
GeoComply furnishes the tracking to ensure online sports bettors are physically present within the Buckeye State borders and processed 2042 unique accounts from Kentucky bettors physically crossing the border 7,700 times to place their bets during January.
GeoComply also proved effective by catching over a million Kentucky residents attempting to wager from the Blue Grass State, which is a violation of Ohio State gambling laws as all sports bettors must be physically present within Ohio borders.
Ohio sportsbook operators expect a huge weekend with Super Bowl LVII bettors wagering on the over 2000 prop bets and other special wagers and promotions.
Ohio Lottery Agents Fear Cannibalization
850 Ohio Lottery Commission affiliate agent bars, restaurants, and other hosts could take wagers this weekend. While there is still a vast chasm between the state-run lottery numbers and sports betting, lottery agents still need to figure out how sports betting will affect lottery games like Keno.
“There is still a gap in the numbers,” said Jon Dillinger, the Ohio Lottery’s sports gaming operations manager. “So [I think as] these locations roll out, we’ll continue to see those numbers grow and each month, I think, have more locations live [and] start to see this kind of spread a little bit more throughout the state.”
The major concern the Ohio Lottery Commission has is how much competition there will be between lottery staples like Keno and Event wagering when their 850 agents and hosts offer their bar and restaurant patrons a choice between playing Keno or using a kiosk located inside the property.
Ohio Lottery retail agents and other hosts will know much more if sports betting will overtake lottery games like Keno. Still, the Commission will likely have a clearer picture when the data rolls out from sporting events like Super Bowl LVII and March Madness.
