When the pandemic forced Rodrigo Williams to close his North College Hill bar, he put his construction company to work renovating Good Brothas Bar & Grill.

Now, he’s counting on sports betting kiosks to rebuild his customer base.

“As soon as we heard about it, we jumped on it,” said Williams, president of RWB Properties and Construction LLC. “I done traveled over to Indiana plenty of times to put a ticket in. So, we said, ‘Hey, you know what? Let’s do the research. Let’s find out what it takes to get a license.’”

That initiative made Williams the only black business owner in Hamilton County to claim a Type C sports gaming host license through two rounds of license approvals by the Ohio Casino Control Commission.