Some state lawmakers are betting on a new plan for legalized online sports gambling in Ohio.
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“I think it’s changed the environment concerning how people bet,” Melvin Williams of Harrison Township said.
Since it became legal at the start of 2023 in Ohio, sports betting has become big business in the Buckeye State.
“If you want to waste your money doing that, or you think you’re good at it, I guess you can go ahead and do it,” Carla Brooks of Dayton said.
A group of Ohio lawmakers has announced a new plan at the statehouse in Columbus aimed at changing legal sports gambling in our state.
State Rep. Johnathan Newman (R-Troy) is a joint sponsor of the bill lawmakers introduced Monday.
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“This bill is needed to put in place some safeguards, some regulations, restrictions to just bring some sanity to what’s happening right now in the wild, wild west of sports gambling in Ohio,” Newman said.
The bill would, among other changes if it becomes law, include limits on how much and how often people could bet daily, would not allow people to place wagers using credit cards, and it would impact where people could place bets.
They’d have to be made in person at casinos or at sportsbooks instead of on phones.
It would ban prop bets; those are wagers on specific events or stats in a game that are not directly tied to the final score, and ban betting on college sports.
Right now, state lawmakers are on summer break and don’t return until after the November election.
There isn’t much time left in the current legislative session for this bill introduced Monday to get to the governor’s office.
But Newman said he thinks it was still worth introducing.
“We want to get this introduced now. We don’t want to wait. Right now, we are building a coalition of supporters. Every time we talk about this legislation, people call us. People across Ohio want to see this done,” he said.
Newman said there’s no guarantee this bill will get a hearing this legislative session on such a tight timeline.
He said if it doesn’t make it to Gov. Mike DeWine by the end of the year, they’ll be ready to re-introduce this bill in the new legislative session, which starts in January.
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