Ohio regulators kept the ball rolling on license approvals with its sports betting launch under two months away.
Five online Ohio sportsbooks, six retail sportsbooks and three mobile and retail proprietors were approved at Wednesday’s Casino Control Commission meeting.
There are still plenty more licenses to be awarded before the market goes live at midnight on Jan. 1.
Approved Ohio sports betting operators
The five approved operators include some of the biggest names in US sports betting:
- BetMGM: Mobile for MGM Resorts’ Northfield Park and retail for the Cincinnati Reds, Northfield and Cedar Downs OTB
- BetRivers: Mobile for PENN Entertainment‘s Hollywood Dayton and retail for Pro Football Hall of Fame Village
- DraftKings: Mobile for PENN’s Hollywood Toledo
- Hard Rock: Mobile and retail for Hard Rock Cincinnati
- Tipico: Mobile and retail for Columbus Crew SC
Hard Rock Cincinnati was one of the three proprietors approved on Tuesday as well. Joining them is the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village (partnered with Betr for mobile) and Miami Valley Gaming (partnered with Gamewise for mobile and retail).
Sports betting suppliers approved, too
Four sports betting suppliers also received their Ohio licenses:
- Internet Sports International
- SBTech Malta
- Stadium Technology Group
- Xpoint Services
StatHero loses Ohio fantasy license
After all of Tuesday’s license approvals, regulators decided to end the meeting by taking one away.
StatHero agreed to give up its fantasy sports license and not reapply for one for three years after the company offered fantasy contests that were against the house and not other players.
Sportshub, meanwhile, was granted a fantasy contest operator license.
More type C approvals as power switches to executive director
Another seven type C hosts were approved, bringing the total to around 880 so far.
The Ohio Lottery pre-approved 1,412 businesses through last Friday, though. That leaves more than 500 to apply still.
CCC Chairwoman June Taylor urged those businesses to do so at Tuesday’s meeting. In order to make sure those approvals can be in time for the Jan. 1 launch date, the CCC gave Executive Director Matt Schuler the authority to approve those licenses.
