Once again, NFL season brings a drastic increase in Ohio sports gambling

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio’s sports-betting companies saw a 58% increase in revenue from sports gambling in September, coinciding with the start of the regular NFL season and the first full month of college football.

Combined, the companies took in nearly $864 million of bets, according to data compiled from the Ohio Casino Control and Ohio Lottery commissions, an increase from $549 million in August. After paying out winnings and voided wagers, the companies generated nearly $106 million in revenue.

This makes September the highest month in 2024 in terms of bets placed and the highest since November 2023, which had $865 million. In total, Ohioans have placed just over $6 billion in bets in 2024.

Ohio’s 19 mobile-betting apps took in most of the action, with a combined $842 million in bets and $102 million in revenue, a massive increase from August’s reporting of $535 million in bets and $47 million in revenue.

The state’s 18 in-person betting lounges took in nearly $21 million in bets and came away with just over $3 million in revenue. Three betting lounges did not report revenue in September.

The Lottery’s betting kiosks, found in bars and restaurants, took in $1.2 million of bets and had $111,000 in revenue.

Betting slowed in the spring and summer, without football, but the reason why cannot be shown by the data. Ohio does not require sports betting companies to report sport-specific data.

Still, Ohio’s sportsbooks keep reporting year-over-year increases. August saw $549 million in bets, up from $380 million in 2023. July saw $477 million in bets, up from $332 million. June saw $530 million in bets, up from $348 million.

Revenue is following the same trend. In total Ohio’s sports-betting companies reported just under $106 million in revenue, up from $82 million last September. In August, revenue grew from $41 million to $49 million year-over-year. July revenue grew from $37 million to $55 million year-over-year and June saw $51 million, up from $33 million.

Reported revenue is the money companies are left with after paying out winnings and voided wagers. It doesn’t include expenses, like the overhead costs of running the sportsbooks.

Zachary Smith is the data reporter for cleveland.com. You can reach him at zsmith@cleveland.com.