The SPIRE Institute, a 750,000-square-foot facility that serves as a training complex and boarding school for elite youth athletes, received conditional approval for two Ohio sports betting licenses at the latest Ohio Casino Control Commission meeting.

The institute, which initially raised some eyebrows after it submitted an application for a Type A and Type B Ohio sports betting license over the summer, has partnered with sports betting operator newcomer Out the Gate LLC for its sports betting services.

Not a typical sports betting applicant

Among a sea of casinos, professional sports franchises, and racinos all jockeying for a piece of Ohio’s sports betting market, SPIRE Institute’s application stood on an island of its own for its uniqueness.

Geneva Sports LLC, which operates as SPIRE Institute and Academy, applied for both an online sports betting (Type A) and retail sports betting (Type B) license in Ashtabula County in July.

SPIRE Institute is a 750,000-square-foot facility that serves as world class event and wellness complex. It offers training programs for Olympians, elite youth athletes, professional athletes and Paralympians. It also hosts the SPIRE Academy, which serves as a boarding school for high school students and recent graduates.

Geneva Sports will be eligible to launch sports betting activities on the Jan. 1, 2023 universal start date, though a representative for the institute said it will not launch on that date.

“We are not launching on January 1, we never intended to,” Holly F. Gross, outside counsel of Benesch Law for Geneva Sports LLC, told Saturday Tradition.

The Ohio Casino Control Commission has yet to approve Out the Gate LLC for retail or online sports betting management services, which may be a cause for the institute’s sports betting launch delay.

“When the Ohio general assembly enacted the (sports betting) legislation, it was all about economic development in Ohio. Geneva Sports has been an economic development engine in Northeast Ohio and we’re excited to continue that trend,” Gross said.

SPIRE Institute sports betting plans

But what will a facility that caters towards the training and education of youth athletes do with a retail and online sports betting license?

Gross said plans for the retail portion of the institute’s sports betting plans have not changed since its application was submitted over the summer. All sports betting services will be independently operated, located off campus, and be operated in a separate facility from the SPIRE Institute. More details will be announced soon, she told Saturday Tradition.

“There are incredibly strict protocols and procedures we have to work with under the sports betting law. We’re taking the responsibility very seriously,” she said.

Geneva Sports’ original application lists 1752 S. Broadway, Geneva, Ohio, as its location for a proposed sports betting or gaming operation. The facility was most recently a restaurant, Chops Grille and Tap House, and is located adjacent to the SPIRE Institute.

SPIRE Institute will be the only entity allowed to operate a sports betting facility in Ashtabula County, as its population is between 100,000 and 399,999.