First month of Ohio sports betting tops $1B in wagers

Why it matters: FanDuel has 495,088,333 reasons to follow Ohio's prohibition against deceptive gambling advertising — that's the total amount of wagers it handled in our state's first month of legal sports betting.

• Ohio reported its first set of sports gaming revenue this week, which includes all bets made in person and via digital apps.
• The massive sum illustrates why competing vendors are trying hard to lock up customers with an endless flurry of promotions, and why Ohio regulators are equally hard at work monitoring sportsbooks for illegal marketing practices.

By the numbers: Online books handled $1.09 billion in wagers in January, paying out $864 million in player winnings, per Ohio Casino Control Commission data.

• Sportsbooks inside casinos, racinos and arenas combined to handle $23 million in wagers and paid out $19.5 million in winnings.

Zoom in: The Jan. 1 launch included kiosks placed in hundreds of restaurants, bars and other small businesses across the state.

• These 772 host locations combined to handle $850,000 in bets, paying out $722,000 in winnings.
• These kiosks have limited betting options, cap wagers at $700 per person per week and are regulated by the state lottery commission.

All told, Ohio brought in just over $20.9 million in wagering tax revenue in January, nearly all of which goes toward K-12 education.

• Gov. Mike DeWine is already proposing to double the tax rate of sportsbooks' profits to 20%.

Context: These figures exceed some industry analysts' expectations, despite some sportsbooks — like the one at Hollywood Casino Columbus — not being fully open yet in January.

The bottom line: February's totals, which include the bulk of Super Bowl bets, may be even higher.

• And there is still March Madness, the MLB season, NBA playoffs and Buckeyes football yet to come.

Meanwhile, two Ohioans in particular are making their own major sports bet.