Ohio sports gambling soars with over $6 billion in bets, ahead of college football playoff

MIAMI VALLEY, Ohio (WKEF) – It’s been almost two years since sports gambling became legal in Ohio, and so far in 2024, Ohioans have placed more than $6 billion in bets.

When it comes to big sporting events, like the upcoming College Football Playoff, experts say it’s almost a guarantee that even more people will want to get in on the action.

“Gambling is fun, especially gambling on sporting events,” says Dr. Kevin Willardsen, Associate Professor of Economics at Wright State University. “It combines two things that people enjoy. They enjoy watching sporting events and betting with their friends.”

Of the $6 billion wagered on sports bets in Ohio in 2024, an estimated $900 million was wagered in October alone, the highest monthly total since January of 2023, when sports betting first became legal in the state.

So far in 2024, around one-third of sports bets were placed on football games, with a large chunk of them in the college ranks.

With the new 12-team college football playoff just under two weeks away, experts say that we are bound to see even more money being thrown around before kickoff.

Willardsen continues, “Especially as we add opportunities for people to place smaller valued bets on more outcomes. Similar to the March Madness bracket, you can place small amounts of money on outcomes or payoffs that are very unlikely to happen.”

In a broader scope, Willardsen goes on to say that sports betting is largely a zero-sum industry, with every bet having both a winner and a loser that cancel each other out in the economy as a whole.

However, Willardsen also says that the state benefits the most from the sports gambling industry, since they get tax revenue from every bet won or lost.

So far in 2024, the state of Ohio received more than $730 million in sports bet tax revenue.

Willardsen adds, “The only entity that actually benefits from having any type of gambling take place would be the state because they get to tax each gamble. The house always wins, and in this case, the house is the state.”

The College Football Playoffs will begin on Friday, December 20th and the betting websites are already putting out deals, odds, and point spreads for the games.

But before you jump into the excitement, both betting organizations and the state of Ohio advise that you bet responsibly and always pause before you play.