A pair of Republican lawmakers in Ohio want to pull the plug on online sports betting in their state, and they are not stopping there.
State Reps. Johnathan Newman of Troy and Beth Lear of Galena have introduced House Bill 971, the Save Ohio Sports Act, which would end online betting in Ohio and allow legal sports betting only via in-person betting at the state’s casinos.
In addition, if the bill becomes law, Ohio bettors would face a long list of new restrictions, including a ban on prop bets and live betting; the ability to make only single-game bets, with no parlays allowed; a maximum of $100 on any one wager; no more than eight bets from any one person in a 24-hour period; and no betting on any college sports.
The bill also targets how bettors pay and how sportsbooks sell. Operators could not accept credit cards to fund accounts or place bets. On the advertising side, the bill would ban gambling ads inside the venue of a college sporting event and block them from running during live broadcasts of games.
In a press release hyping the bill, the sponsors framed the package as a consumer protection act.
“Monetizing addiction to fund public education is the wrong direction for Ohio. Who wins when predatory gambling preys on the vulnerable? It’s not our schools; that’s for sure!” Newman said in the release. “It’s the trillion-dollar big gambling companies who win. How is this good for Ohio?”
Lear went further.
“Gambling is the number one addiction that leads to suicide — online gambling companies are in an aggressive pay-to-play game with the Ohio Legislature, hoping to expand their profits on the backs of Ohioans with the ‘carrot’ of providing extra tax money for the government,” Lear said. “This legislation makes it clear: our kids, their physical and mental well-being, are not for sale.”
DeWine has voiced betting regrets
The bill, which has not yet been assigned to committee, could, if passed, land in friendly territory at the top of Ohio’s government. Gov. Mike DeWine, who signed the 2021 law that brought sports betting to the state, told the Associated Press last November that he “absolutely” regrets it.
“Look, we’ve always had gambling, we’re always going to have gambling,” DeWine told the AP. “But just the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to advertise and do everything they can to get someone to place that bet is really different once you have legalization of them. Ohio shouldn’t have done it.”
DeWine has been especially vocal about prop bets. He helped push Major League Baseball and its betting partners to cap prop bets on individual pitches at $200 and pull them out of parlays, a deal announced after Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase were indicted on charges of rigging pitches for gamblers. Both pleaded not guilty. DeWine has since called for a broader, league-by-league crackdown on prop betting.
Still, DeWine has not publicly endorsed HB 971. And while he told the AP he would sign a repeal of Ohio’s sports betting law, he also said he does not believe a ban would actually pass the legislature.
“There’s not the votes for that. I can count,” he said back in November. “I’m not always right, but I can pretty much guarantee you that they’re not ready to do this.”
No state has repealed sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for it in 2018.
