The best Ohio sports betting sites 2024

FanDuel

FanDuel is entering Ohio for the first time in January 2023 through a partnership with Belterra Park in Cincinnati. The sportsbook will be one of the sportsbooks going live on the first day of online sports betting in the state and will offer OH customers $200 in Bonus Bets when you wager $5.

FanDuel provides customers with around 30 sports to bet on and includes markets for special events like the Super Bowl, World Cup, and Olympics. Major sports have hundreds of markets for each game, including dozens of in-play lines. This means you can place moneylines, props, totals, and much more.

The sportsbook has some of the best odds you can find in the US, including on betting lines for the NFL and soccer. The brand is also the official betting partner of the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, all of which have a team in OH.

DraftKings

After partnering with Hollywood Casino Toledo to receive a license from the Ohio Casino Control Commission, DraftKings has announced it will be one of the first sportsbooks to launch in OH. The betting operator has earned a reputation for its excellent desktop site and elite app, which offers live streaming.

Everyone in Ohio that signs up with DraftKings can claim $200 in bonus bets when they make a minimum deposit of $5. The sportsbook also runs frequent existing player promos like odds boosts, bonus bets, and more. In addition, anyone in Ohio who signs up with DK Sportsbook can play the operator’s Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) games with the same account.

There are dozens of sports you can bet on at DraftKings, with excellent coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA. DraftKings is an official betting partner for all of these sports leagues and offers some of the best odds you can find at any US sportsbook.

Caesars

Ohio bettors will be able to use Caesars from January 2023 as the Ohio Casino Control Commission licenses the sportsbook. The sportsbook got this license through an official partnership with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Every new player in the state can redeem a $100 welcome bonus with a minimum deposit of $20 and entry into a prize draw to win tickets for a Cavs game.

Along with its generous welcome bonus, Caesars Sportsbook also offers the Caesars Rewards program. This allows bettors to earn points from betting and use those points to redeem prizes like bet credit, hotel stays, and more. You can wager on a wide range of markets at Caesars, including betting lines for the MLB, NBA, and NFL. There are also international sports competitions like the Premier League, Wimbledon, and UEFA Champions League.

Baseball (MLB)

Ohio has two teams playing in the MLB: the Cleveland Guardians and the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds are the more successful of the teams, famous for the championship-dominating ‘Big Red Machine’ of the ’70s. More than 1.4 million fans visited Red’s Great American Ball Park for 80 home games in 2019.

The Cleveland Guardians play at the 21,000-capacity Progressive Field, and hold the undesirable record for the longest time without a World Series Championship.

Basketball (NBA)

Ohio’s NBA franchise, the Cleveland Cavaliers, was one of the best basketball teams in the US between 2015-2018. Led by superstar Lebron James, the team came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the Championship 7-6 in 2016. During game 7, the Cavs pulled off ‘The Block’, a defensive play from James seen as one of his best moments. The Cavs were the second most watched NBA team in the US in 2022, as the team made the playoffs for the first time since James left for the LA Lakers in 2018.

Football (NFL & NCAA)

The Buckeye State is home to two rival NFL teams, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals made it to Super Bowl 2022, led by promising QB Joe Burrows and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. The team plays at the 66,000-capacity Paul Brown Stadium.

The Browns have not been as successful, posting a .302 record from launching in 1999 to 2019. The Browns play at the FirstEnergy Stadium in front of 67,000 fans. They partnered with Bally Bet ahead of the launch of sports betting.

College football is also strong in Ohio, with the incredibly popular Ohio Buckeyes playing in the FBS. Representing Ohio State University, the team has the fifth highest average attendance of any sports team in the world, with as many as 110,000 spectators at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

Hockey (NHL)

Inspired by Ohio’s contribution to the Union in the American Civil War, the Columbus Blue Jackets play in the NHL wearing a civil war-themed blue jackets uniform. The team also famously brings a cannon to their games, which is fired after every start, goal, and win. Despite this unique atmosphere, the 22-year-old team is still hunting for its first Stanley Cup win.

Soccer

Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati are Ohio’s two Major League Soccer franchises. Having won six major trophies, Columbus Crew was a founding member of the MLS and built the first-ever soccer-specific stadium in the US, the Historic Crew Stadium. Now playing from the Lower.com Field, the Crew became one of only four MLS teams to win the Campeones Cup in 2021.

Founded in 2018, FC Cincinnati plays to a crowd of 33,000 in an orange and blue kit. The team plays at Nippert Stadium at the University of Cincinnati, which it shares with the school’s soccer team.

Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati play each other in the ‘Hell is Real’ derby, named after a famous billboard inscribed with those words on the interstate that connects the teams.

UFC

Ohio is an occasional host to UFC fighting events, with a recent event being Blaydes vs. Daukaus in March 2022. These events are held at various locations across the state, with the Blue Jackets Nationwide Arena being the most common. The events usually generate sell-out crowds of 18,000-25,000 people.

NASCAR

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a 75,000-seater, 13-turn track in Lexington, Ohio. In the past, the track has hosted events for IndyCar and NASCAR. The NASCAR Xfinity Series, the ‘minor league’ of NASCAR racing, also used the track from 2013 to 2021. However, the track has been used for the NASCAR Camping World Truck series since 2022. The track still hosts IndyCar, where local Ohian Graham Rahal famously won in 2015.

Golf

Ohio hosts the famous PGA Tour Memorial Tournament played at Muirfield Village Golf Club in north Columbus, Ohio. The Memorial Tournament is one of only five invitational tournaments on the PGA Tour. With a $12,000,000 purse in 2022, the Memorial Tournament is one of the best-paid competitions outside of major championships and FedEx Cup Playoff events. Not to mention the Inverness Club, which often runs major PGA Tour events. The state also hosts the Dana Open and the Kroger Queen City Championship as part of the women’s LPGA Tour.

Horse racing

There are seven horse racing tracks in Ohio and one off-track betting location where you can place pari-mutuel horse racing bets. Ohio has a long history of horse racing and horse betting, having welcomed horse racing since the early 1930s. Ohio hosts high stakes horse races like the Ohio Derby, and the Little Brown Jug, with prize pools as large as $500,000.

Tennis

Ohio hosts a leg of the ATP Masters 1000, considered the most prodigious tennis tournament after the four major Grand Slams. This tournament has nine legs, with the Cincinnati Masters usually held during August. Ohio also hosts the WTA’s Western and Southern Open.