(WKBN) — When sports betting starts on Jan. 1 in Ohio nearly 70 bars and restaurants in the Mahoning Valley will have kiosks on which to place bets and with state approval, those kiosks will be supplied by a company from Poland.
The offices of Iron Gate Gaming are at 5 Points in Poland in the same plaza as Roundabout Pizza. There’s no sign out front and no furniture inside — at least not yet.
“We will be ready by Jan. 1 to have those kiosks operational,” said attorney Ricky Volante.
Volante and Perry Riddick are two of the 15 employees. All they have at this point is an Iron Gate banner. They’re waiting on state approval for a license to operate which should come in Oct.
“We’ve prepared ourselves for these things hence we have everything ready to go from here on out and once we get the license and the go-ahead, it’s on,” said Riddick.
Iron Gate’s kiosks can only be seen in pictures. They’re being bought from a Las Vegas company. Iron Gate will own the kiosks and give a percentage of the revenue back to the businesses.
“And when Ohio made the decision to include this proprietor tier which other states have generally not done, the decision was made that we had the operational capability and the sufficient funding to move forward into the space and be one of those licensed proprietors for the state of Ohio,” said Volante.
Establishments will also be provided with the capability to display the betting lines on monitors. The lines will also come from a Las Vegas company.
“They’ll be recommending lines and then we’ll have the ability to accept, reject, or alter those,” said Volante.
The owners of Iron Gate Gaming also own Boardman’s Lanai Lounge. The plan is to have two kiosks set up here by the end of the month for training. They’ve received inquiries from elsewhere in Ohio but right now it’s only focused on businesses around Youngstown.
“Right now, we know what we are capable of and that’s what we’re going to focus on right now,” said Riddick.
Iron Gate Gaming already has commitments from most of the establishments around Youngstown to provide their sports betting kiosks. Riddick — who’s also part owner of Lanai Lounge — said having close contact with bar and restaurant owners has helped them.
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