CINCINNATI – With sports betting set to launch statewide in the New Year, casinos and racinos are preparing to debut their own sportsbooks, online and in person.

Besides a digital betting app, Cincinnati’s Hard Rock Casino, staff has added 33 kiosks throughout its facility and dozens more televisions to prepare for the launch, but the heart of its sports betting operation will be in the Hard Rock Café where the casino is opening a sportsbook lounge.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio sports betting launches on Jan. 1.

  • The Hard Rock Casino will have 33 betting kiosks, feature in-person betting windows and launch its own app.

  • The sportsbook will open New Year's Day.

  • Pete Rose will place the first bet.

From the lounge, visitors will be able to place real-time bets at the casino’s windows and watch the results come in.

George Goldhoff, the casino president, hopes the amenities help create a new way for Cincinnati sports fans and fans across Ohio to connect and interact with their favorite games and teams.

“To be here with your friends in your favorite sweater drinking pints, having nachos, I think it’s the full experience,” he said. “It’ll be a new amenity and it will bring new guests to brand that potentially haven’t been in the casino before.”

Besides the in-person betting experience, the Hard Rock Casino is also launching its own app with its own sportsbook, where anyone from anywhere in Ohio can place real-time bets and collect winnings digitally.

Every neighboring state, with the exception of Kentucky, has already legalized sports betting. When Ohio’s sportsbooks go live, Goldhoff said casinos like Cincinnati’s will be able to keep potential bettors in state and their money as well.

“We know how much Indiana at the Hollywood property generates and we know that we will receive a large portion of that as well as people in Ohio who are new to sports betting will also jump on the bandwagon,” he said.

The Hard Rock Casino will open its sports betting facilities just after midnight on Jan. 1. Former Cincinnati Reds All Star, Pete Rose, will place the first bet. Rose received a lifetime ban from the MLB for betting on baseball. 

Goldhoff declined to say what Rose was planning to do for his first bet in Cincinnati, but he described the choice as “unique.”

There are four standalone casinos in Ohio, including the Hard Rock in Cincinnati, all of which will launch on-location sportsbooks through various platforms, such as Barstool Sportsbook and betJack.