With sports betting now legal in Ohio, the Cavaliers are opening a “stylish, two-story sportsbook inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse," where fans can “wager on games across the country -- along with the one they’re attending,” according to Tom Withers of the AP. The Cavaliers are partnering with Caesar’s Sportsbook on the 10,000-square-foot space, which is “outfitted with bars, betting kiosks and windows.” In-arena, full-service sportsbooks did not debut in the U.S. until 2021, when Monumental Sports & Entertainment opened one at Capital One Arena, and the "success in Washington intrigued the Cavs.” Cleveland’s facility will “operate seven days a week, 362 days per year.” Not only will it be “open during Cavs games to fans 21 and over, but every event at the arena.” The team expects the sportsbook to “attract the ardent gambler” and “maybe entice the casual fan to drop a couple bucks on a game.” The Caesar’s Sportsbook in Cleveland “looks like a Las Vegas casino floor, minus the blackjack and roulette tables.” There is an “enormous circular bar on the upper level with windows providing natural light and stunning views of Cleveland’s west side” (AP, 1/3).
WAIT IS OVER: In Toledo, Rowland & Provance wrote it has “been a long time coming” for Ohio, which “waited to cash in for nearly five years” after the Supreme Court struck down Nevada's monopoly on sports gambling. BetOhio.com estimates that the state "will have more" than $8B in wagers in 2023, "second only to New York.” Ohio is a “strong betting market” because of its “population of nearly 12 million people, multiple NFL and MLB franchises, an NBA and NHL team, and perhaps the most popular college football team in the country, Ohio State” (Toledo BLADE, 1/3).
