There are two dozen mobile operators that hope to be live for the first day of legal Ohio sports betting.
Betway, MaximBet and Prophet Exchange applied for second-skin licenses by Monday’s deadline, according to Wednesday’s update.
That ensures they will be ready to launch with the other Ohio sportsbooks at midnight Jan. 1, 2023, pending license approval.
The next deadline operators need to hit for their day one launch is Nov. 2. That is for employee licenses and compliance materials including house rules and geolocation procedures.
Who partnered with latest Ohio sports betting applicants?
The Columbus Blue Jackets appear to be taking a risk-reward approach to their sports betting partners.
The Blue Jackets partnered with Prophet Exchange for their second skin after signing Fanatics for its first skin and retail book. Neither has launched their platform in any state yet.
Betway partnered with Boyd, which has a market-access agreement with FanDuel for its first skin. MaximBet took one of the two second-skin slots owned by JACK Entertainment.
The only other second-skin applicant so far is Rush Street Interactive, which will operate under one of PENN Entertainment‘s licenses.
WynnBET misses day 1 application window
WynnBET is the first operator to apply that missed its chance at a guaranteed day one launch.
The operator applied August 15, but since it is on a first-skin agreement with JACK, that was a month too late.
There may be no operator live through JACK’s Thistledown racino on Jan. 1. The company has not applied for a mobile license for its betJACK brand yet.
Lottery retailers approved for sports betting
The first 200 retailers that want to host sports betting kiosks were approved at Wednesday’s Ohio Casino Control Commission meeting.
There are still plenty more to be approved. The Ohio Lottery had 1,254 pre-approved locations listed as of Aug. 12.
As of Aug. 18, though, only 727 had formally applied with the CCC. The regulator told pre-approved host locations to continue applying for a day one launch, as the requirements are “far less than the other business entities involved in sports gaming.”
“As such, the Commission anticipates being able to continue to process and license Type-C sports gaming hosts who missed the application window ahead of the universal start date. This does not mean that hosts can wait and apply at any time but does mean that hosts that apply within the next few weeks are still likely to receive consideration in time to launch sports gaming on January 1.”
