Ohioans hoping to bet on sports in the near future may be disappointed to learn that the state’s gambling commission doesn’t see a legal and regulated industry coming about until the start of 2023.
Yesterday, the Ohio Control Commission announced that the launch will occur “close to January 1, 2023”. This is the deadline which lawmakers ruled on last year.
It was recently speculated that Ohio may launch its sports betting framework in October this year, in time to profit from major sports events such as the World Series in baseball. Two senators even told news outlets that this may be case.
However, the Commission put a dampening on these hopes on Wednesday, after its executive director, Matt Schuler said that there was simply too much work to be done before January 1st.
Spokesperson for the Ohio Control Commission, Jessica Franks said in a statement: “For everyone interested, they really should expect it to be very close to – if not on – January 1st.”
“We anticipate roughly 3,000 (license applications) might come in,” she added. “We’re going to need to do all of those investigations to issue those licenses and then make sure they’re in compliance with all of the rules and regulations. We’re going to need all of that time right up until January.”
