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The four brick-and-mortar casinos in Ohio recorded their best November yet in terms of revenue in 2023. While that’s positive news in and of itself, there is both bad and good news for Ohio’s casinos on a broader scale.
The same theme was held for sportsbooks in Ohio during November 2023. They had one of their busiest months but that didn’t translate into unprecedented revenue totals for the state’s legal online and physical sportsbooks in November.
Ohio casinos win $80.4 million in November
November was a respectable month for the state’s four casinos.
- Hard Rock Cincinnati
- Hollywood Columbus
- Hollywood Toledo
- Jack Cleveland
All four casinos combined to win over $80.4 million from players on poker, slots, and table games during the month.
That’s up slightly from November 2022 and represents a new record for Ohio’s casino industry in terms of November revenue. On the bright side, that total also puts the running total for the calendar year 2023 marginally ahead of where the calendar year 2022 was through its first 11 months.
There’s another shoe to drop, however. In a fiscal-year comparison, things aren’t as rosy. The total for such revenue from the first five months of FY2023-24 are down by a small margin in comparison to the same period in FY2022-23.
Thus, calendar year 2023 may finish the best on record for Ohio casinos. At the same time, those casinos have work to do if they want to post a record fiscal year in the current term. It all depends on how the coming months go.
Meanwhile, sportsbooks in Ohio could be hard-pressed to replicate their November activity going forward.
Busy November for Ohio sportsbooks
Through the 30 days of November, Ohio’s legal sportsbooks (excluding Type C kiosks) took over $864.2 million in bets from residents and visitors. That’s the new second-highest total for a single month in Ohio’s short history of legal sports betting, surpassing October 2023’s betting total.
Only January’s $1.1 billion in bets stands above November’s wagering total in Ohio. Furthermore, only Nevada, New Jersey, and New York have posted higher betting totals nationally for November so far (Illinois has yet to report its November figures).
That nearly unprecedented amount of money bet didn’t create an unprecedented amount of cash for sportsbooks to keep, though. According to a report from the Ohio Casino Control Commission, books won about 8.3% of the $864.2 million in bets or around $72 million.
That’s less than they won in five previous months, ranking sixth of 11 months so far. As November 2023 was the first such month with legal sports betting action in Ohio, it’s the month’s sports betting revenue record by default.
The question moving forward is whether the trend of escalating dollar amounts gambled will continue in December. If so, Ohio will close out 2023 among the most active states regarding legal sports betting.
Sportsbook operators are likely hoping for a better close to 2023 when it comes to their bottom lines.
And 2024 could continue Ohio’s strong run of online gambling as Ohio online casino legislation will likely be considered this year.
