Just after sports bettors in Ohio gained one additional retail sportsbook in Cleveland, they are losing another in Cincinnati. The latter’s impact, however, should be minor.
SuperBook Sports has announced shutdown effective at 10 p.m. this Thursday of its small betting operation at the Taft’s Ale House in Cincinnati, though bets won’t be taken Tuesday through Thursday. The location has been operating on a Friday-through-Monday basis since opening Jan. 1, so it was taking its last bets at a ticket window and five self-service kiosks on Monday.
The shutdown comes just after Fanatics Sportbook in partnership with the Cleveland Guardians opened a retail sportsbook Friday just outside Progressive Field, so the state will still have 14 legal venues for in-person betting.
A 15th can be expected soon, with Fanatics previously having announced preparations for a sportsbook adjacent to Nationwide Arena in Columbus to open this summer.
Betting totaled about $10,000 monthly
The SuperBook location in the lower level of a brewpub in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood was always a bit of an underdog, as a small and unusual location compared to other Ohio-permitted sportsbooks located in casinos, at racetracks, or within arena complexes. SuperBook Sports created it in partnership with FC Cincinnati, the soccer franchise through which Superbook has its mobile wagering license in Ohio, as well as through partnering with Taft’s.
In January through June, according to figures posted by the Ohio Casino Control Commission, the site handled a total of $62,390 in wagers and its revenue amounted to just $4,109. That’s far less than any other retail sportsbook, and in three of the six months the Taft’s location actually showed a revenue loss for SuperBook.
SuperBook Vice President of Marketing Kristin Mackey said in an interview Monday that the bar location several blocks from FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium was never intended to be a permanent location. FC Cincinnati has stated previously that a more traditional, larger sportsbook is being considered as part of a broader development several years away and north of the stadium.
That possibility remains the case, Mackey said, stressing that FC Cincinnati and Taft’s have both been excellent partners for SuperBook Sports. But one thing that became evident in the first half of 2023 is just how much Ohioans prefer online betting to retail, she said, even in comparison to other states. About 97% of bets have been made by phone or computer since the January launch.
“It’s a big, spread-out state” with a broad number of teams supported by fans who may not live near a convenient retail location, Mackey noted. That’s good for betting overall, but not necessarily for a setting like Taft’s where patrons enjoyed watching games on TV while drinking and eating, but weren’t focused on placing a bet in the downstairs location.
Most retail betting in Cincinnati has been done at Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati, which took more than $1.4 million in wagers in June. BetMGM also operates a sportsbook connected to the Reds’ Great American Ball Park, although that operation is to move later this year to a busier year-round location nearby.
Football should make a difference
Ohio is one of eight states for SuperBook Sports’ mobile operations, and Mackey said the company decided it’s the right time to focus on that, considering Ohioans’ tendencies.
“We thought what better time and way to go than where the business is … providing the best player experience and putting an effort where the customers are,” she said.
Not as widely known in Ohio as major national operators that spend lavishly on marketing, SuperBook’s mobile operations have also been modest by comparison since Jan. 1. After taking $2 million in monthly bets in January and February, SuperBook’s handle tapered off and then fell below $1 million in both May and June, which are traditionally slower times for sportsbooks. With its handle of about half a million dollars in June, it was among four online sportsbooks — out of 18 total in the state — taking less than $1 million in bets.
Mackey said the sportsbook’s reputation in its home base of Las Vegas has been built upon how well customers view its football offerings, and she expects that to help boost its usage by bettors in Ohio in coming months.
“You’re going to continue to see us be a great prop bet provider, to offer a lot of same-game parlays, to do a lot of different things with content and influencers on our app,” she said.
“We’re definitely not worried about Ohio — it has been one of our strongest states, and we’re very bullish about what we’re going to see there going forward.”
