Ohio Sports Betting May Set NFL Season Records

Is the Ohio sports betting market about to set wagering records during the 2024 NFL season? At least one projection model thinks so.

Optimove, a privately held company that uses “algorithmic optimization” as well as its Customer Data Platform to predict spending and trendlines, recently published a forecast on NFL online betting in 2024. The results suggest that online sports betting in the United States will see a noticeable uptick throughout the regular season. Meanwhile, the Ohio sports betting market is identified as one that could experience noticeable gains.

That may not read like a surprise on its face. But sports betting in Ohio has undergone adjustments over the past year that may theoretically impact the state’s overall gambling handle. So why do projections hint at an NFL betting increase in Ohio? Let’s find out.

NFL Betting is Expected to Remain on the Rise During the 2024 Regular Season

To be sure, it isn’t just sports betting in Ohio that’s projected to climb during the 2024 NFL schedule. The Optimove survey paints the rise of betting on NFL football through a national lens.

“The Optimove report had many takeaways, but the sheer increase in betting frequency was impossible to overlook,” writes T.J. McBride for PlayOhio. “Of the 356 respondents to the survey, 84% said they ‘definitely will’ bet on football this season while 71% of those bettors claimed they will bet at least once per week. This betting frequency has grown by 21% in two years. That’s compared to data from Optimove’s 2022 survey in which 63% said they ‘definitely will’ bet on football that season.”

It must be noted that this sampling isn’t necessarily telltale of the entire population. A 356-person total isn’t that high.

However, Optimove deliberately limited the scope of their survey. Their study featured only United States citizens aged 21 or older, with household annual incomes that exceed $75,000.

Isolating the criteria, in theory, allows you to effectively use fewer respondents to reach conclusions. But while that may be the case for online sports betting in the United States at large, will it also hold true for Ohio sports betting?

Ohio Sports Betting Handled Started Climbing Before the NFL Season

Even before the start of the 2024 NFL season, The Buckeye State continued to show the typical signs of a growing market. The Ohio sports betting handle in June was up nearly 50 percent year-over-year. What’s more, this trend holds true in the most recent report from July. As Hill Kerby, also of PlayOhio, writes:

“July produced the lowest Ohio sports betting totals of its first year with legal wagering in 2023. Now, it’s recorded the lowest totals of 2024, too. Ohio online sportsbooks reported $466.6 million in July wagers, a 9.6% decrease from June’s $516.1 million and the first time handle fell below $500 million since August 2023. Those numbers represent the seasonal nature of sports betting in Ohio and nationwide. Ohio’s second July also saw 46% yearly growth from $313.6 million in its first go-around. Revenue is up, too. Ohio sportsbooks made $53.5 million in July, a 6% improvement from June ($50.5 million) and 34% better than July 2023 ($35.9 million).”

Parse the details, and this seems like a big deal.

Sure, Ohio’s betting handle may have hit a yearly low in July. But online MLB betting is the only (big-time) game in town for The Buckeye State during this portion of the calendar. That matters. You can't compare predictably dead periods against busier spans in a vacuum.

Measuring returns against the same time last year is more instructive. And if sports in Ohio is on the rise during what should be its slowest period, just imagine what will happen as betting on the NFL crescendos over the next few months.

Other Factors Influencing the Rise of Sports Betting in Ohio

Make no mistake, NFL betting online is absolutely juicing Ohio’s wagering handle. The state will likely exceed even the most optimistic projections if one of the Cincinnati Bengals or Cleveland Browns proved to be Super Bowl contenders.

Still, online football betting isn’t the only factor driving The Buckeye State’s booming business. As the Optimove survey also touches upon, diminishing sportsbook brand loyalty may be doing the same. According to their results, 23 percent of sports bettors say that they have “no preference” when it comes to choosing an online sportsbook. That’s an interesting tidbit. Especially when you consider that FanDuel and DraftKings continue to dominate the Ohio sports betting market share.

This is even harder to wrap your head around when you consider The Buckeye State’s offerings have technically shrunk over the past year. Select online sportsbooks in Ohio, such as SuperBook, have shuddered operations. They’ve found it too difficult to contend with DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars and others.

Conceptually speaking, you might think this hurts the Ohio sports betting business. But the Buckeye State has plenty of other options from which gamblers can choose. On top of that, a lack of brand loyalty may simply just mean more NFL bettors in Ohio are using multiple sportsbooks. And if you have customers continuing to shop around, that’s not just good for competitive NFL betting odds. It likely means that a higher number of people are submitting multiple transactions per week. And the more transactions Ohio gets, the higher their handle is probably going to be.

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