If you're looking for a place to watch the game and place bets, a sports bar is the perfect spot. Lobby's Grille is a sports bar with a dozen TVs that fill the wall above the bar. Customers can now watch the games and use different phone apps to place bets, and soon they'll be able to do so at a kiosk in the bar. Tavern owners consider sports betting to be another entertainment option for customers, many of whom already play Keno, tip sheets or other Ohio Lottery games when they come to eat or have a drink. The new law opened up sports betting for casinos and other select Ohio sites, including restaurants, bars and other small businesses.
It is expected that bets can be placed on common sporting events, such as college football and basketball, the NFL, the NBA, Major League Baseball, the PGA and NASCAR. Jalboush said that offering sports betting fits very well with the business that caters to bowlers and sports enthusiasts. Meanwhile, Rupp plans to add sports betting to the Touch and Win machine that's already at Harmon's, which offers Keno and other Ohio Lottery games. More than 340 companies have already applied for the type C sports game host license that will be issued by the commission. That's why the co-owner of Lobby's Grille — a sports bar in the municipality of Jackson — and other restaurants in Massillon and Canton are applying for licenses from the state to install sports betting kiosks in their businesses.
Even though they're filing an application, business owners still have questions about how sports betting will work. Reinhart has filed an application for a sports betting kiosk for the Perry restaurant, but is waiting before applying for licenses at the family's other restaurants, Cameo Grill and Old Timers Bar & Griddle, both in Massillon. If all eligible businesses in the Akron-Canton area applied, the region could quickly have more than 100 establishments that could host sports betting kiosks. At Lobby's, Abraham plans to create a space for a standalone sports betting machine that the restaurant will receive from the owner. The state has limited the number of traditional sports betting establishments in Ohio to 40, depending on the county's population. There is no limit to the number of locations in Ohio or within a county that can host a sports betting kiosk.
Once the company has approval, it must contract with one of the seven companies that are allowed (up to 20), licensed as providers of sports betting kiosks.
