MLB’s all-time hit leader Pete Rose, who was banned from the league more than 30 years ago for betting on baseball, was able this week to place Ohio’s first legal sports bet on the game.
The Cincinnati Reds legend placed the state’s first legal sports bet on Sunday at Cincinnati’s Hard Rock Casino, located just a 20-minute walk from the site of the Reds’ former home at Riverfront Stadium.
Rose received a lifetime ban from the league in 1989, following an investigation that determined he’d bet on Reds games while serving as the team’s manager.
He later admitted to betting on baseball and on Reds games in 2004.
This week, Rose decided to bet that the Reds ― who MLB.com projected to go 62-100 in its most recent 2023 season power rankings ― will win the next World Series, according to Spectrum News.
“I don’t know a damn thing about odds,” Rose said after making the bet, according to the news outlet. “Go Reds! Go Bengals!”
Ohio’s try at legal sports betting comes after Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed it into law in December 2021.
Legal sports betting is expected to be a money maker for Ohio, according to Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati President George Goldhoff, who predicted there will be $8.8 billion in bets in 2023.
Bet Ohio predicts that legal sports betting could generate over $50 million in tax revenue for the state after one year, Spectrum News reported.