Ohio Legislators Drop Ball On Sports Betting Launch

• Sports betting sites in Ohio will launch on New Year’s Day.
• Ohio State plays Georgia in the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Eve.
• Legislators missed out on what could have been the perfect opening even for Ohioans to bet on.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When the ball drops at midnight on New Year’s Eve, Ohio-based sports betting sites will launch.

The sportsbooks that will launch at midnight are:

• FanDuel
• DraftKings
• SuperBook
• BetMGM
• Tipico Sportsbook
• BetRivers
• Bet365
• Betfred
• BallyBet
• Betr
• Caesars Sportsbook
• Hard Rock
• PointsBet

Legal sportsbooks in Ohio have been available internationally since the days of Kirk Herbstreit on the turf for the OSU Buckeyes, with the state-regulated books taking a long time to catch up.

Those same legal sportsbooks (Bovada, BetOnline, and MyBookie) have two more days left as the sole odds providers in OH, although New Year’s Eve is a pretty significant day for many in the Buckeye State.

Poor Timing For Ohio State Fans

Legislators in Ohio dropped the ball on sports betting for years and even after agreeing to a launch date they still seemingly dropped the proverbial ball.

The College Football Playoff kicks off on December 31, with those dates set well in advance.

Ohio State University was expected to field a strong football team this season by nearly everyone, with legal sports betting sites always suggesting that there was a better chance that they get into the playoff than not.

Saturday will also mark the first game this season that Ohio State is an underdog in, with Bovada offering +195 odds on the CJ Stroud-led team to win outright.

That means residents of Ohio would have had the best payouts of the season on a Buckeye’s win, while simultaneously having the highest likelihood of the season to lose.

That high-risk/high-reward result would have been perfect for legislators as residents would either start off thrilled with sports betting or the state would have done quite well collecting taxes from revenue at the new sportsbook.

Instead of taking advantage of what would have been the perfect game to kick off sports betting in Ohio, legislators are forcing bettors to focus on the slate of NFL games and abiding by their prenoted date.

The Browns on Sunday and the Bengals on Monday are both likely to be exciting games to bet on, although the regular season nature of those games does not make them nearly as exciting as the College Football Playoff betting potential that was missed out on by legislators.

Of course, the Ohio State versus Georgia matchup starts at 8 p.m. ET and overtime is always a possibility. Thought it would likely take four overtimes to reach the midnight hour, the game could find some handle one last minute bettors at midnight.

News tags: Bovada | Cincinnati Bengals | CJ Stroud | Cleveland Browns | College Football | Ohio