DAYTON — News Center 7 got a hold of data showing almost 13% of all mobile sportsbook bets Super Bowl weekend involved people in Ohio.
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Bets can be placed at a brick-and-mortar sports book like Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway and even on your phone.
News Center 7′s John Bedell says new data shows how popular sports betting is getting here in Ohio a little more than a month after it became legal.
GeoComply’s website has pin-drop maps showing geo-location pin-points where Super Bowl sports betting transactions took place across the county.
“Over Super Bowl weekend, we saw 12.8 million transactions,” said John Pappas, Senior VP of Government and Public Affairs of GeoComply.
He works with the Vancouver-based company and says those transaction are just in Ohio alone.
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Bedell reports those nearly 13 million transactions were second nationally only trailing New York State.
Geocomply is a cybersecurity company that works with mobile sportsbooks.
They provide anti-fraud tools plus age and identity age verification sites, as well as services to make sure players are where they say they are.
“We’ve been active in Ohio for a long time because people have been trying to bet on legal sites since before January 1,” he said. “And unfortunately, we had to block those individuals from being able to place the bet. Now, since January 1, those individuals are able to place a bet on legal regulated sites in Ohio.”
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Bedell says with all those millions of transactions just this past weekend, he asked Pappas what the data says about the popularity of legal sports betting in our state?
He tells Bedell part of it is due to pent-up demand, but there are other factors at play.
“There’s always a big boom at the beginning which levels off,” said Pappas. “And I think that has to do with a lot of the bonus and incentives that players get to be able to set up accounts and place wagers. That does seem to level off. But Ohio, we think, is going to be a top market for many years to come.”
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Bedell reports the Ohio Casino Control Commission regulates sports betting In Ohio.
They have said they will release January revenue numbers for the industry in February.
So far, News Center 7 has not seen those numbers yet, but we will let you know when we get them.
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