Despite promises made by lawmakers and more than a dozen meetings of the House Select Committee on Gaming, sports betting is not imminent in Ohio. Senate Republicans were on board with a final version of the legislation but House members were reluctant to pass a sweeping sports betting measure without more time to consider the details. As a result, House Speaker Bob Cupp said legalizing sports betting will be a “top priority” this fall.
Two bills are being considered with different versions of language that would allow Ohioans to bet on the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Browns and Ohio State Buckeyes: Senate Bill 176, which passed in a 30-2 vote on June 16 and House Bill 29, which the Senate filled with last-minute changes.
State Senator Kirk Schuring said, “I wish we could have gotten it done by June 30. I will be working very diligently with key members of the House, key members of the interested parties and Senate President Matt Huffman to put everything in order so we can take quick action when we come back in September.”
Cupp agreed, stating, “Over the summer, we’re going to be working on that to try to finalize it so when we come back in September, that’s one of the first things we do. That’s our goal and that’s our hope. The revised version that was sent over may fit the bill. We just don’t know.”
House Republicans also amended Senate Bill 187 sponsored by state Senator Niraj Antani, which also would have allowed students to profit off their name, image and likeness, and banned transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports. With that, Democrats withdrew their support for the previously bipartisan measure.
Antani at that point amended House Bill 29, which would create veteran identification cards, to include the name, image and likeness provision. He said, “This is a recruiting issue. Ohio is a huge sports state. We should not let personal motivations and personal agendas rob them of this right.”
Senators attached more amendments to HB 29. “We think we have an amendment that will finally get gaming accepted and be a part of the Ohio Revised Code. It’s long overdue,” Schuring said.
According to the proposed changes:
- Ohio would offer up to 25 mobile licenses and up to 40 brick-and-mortar store licenses for sports gaming
- Counties with 800,000 or more residents would be eligible for five brick-and-mortar licenses; those with 400,000 to 800,000 residents would be eligible for three and those with at least 100,000 residents would be eligible for one
- Veterans and fraternal organizations could have seven electronic bingo machines. Organizations established before July 1 would be eligible for eBingo licenses
- Bars with certain liquor licenses could apply for licenses to offer spreads and over/under bets on two kiosks. Application fees would be $2,000, not $6,000
- The 10 percent tax on sports betting revenue still would be divided 98 percent for public and private K-12 education and 2 percent for problem gambling services. Half of the money for schools go toward extracurricular sports and activities
- Ohio would allow official league data to be part of proposition betting
The overstuffed bill passed the House 31-0, but then Cupp tabled it, to the disappointment of many, including Antani. “I’m very disappointed. We definitely wanted to get this done by June 30. It is very unfortunate that we haven’t. I think we all need to make a concerted effort to work over the summer to get this done during September when we come back into session. We did not meet our deadline, that’s on us, but it’s time to pick up the ball and get this done,” Antani said.
Industry analyst Jeff Edelstein observed, “Sitting I guess is where they stand right now. The House Speaker is in no rush to get this done until he has a chance to set up his own committee, after the Senate went through three-plus months of committee hearings.”
He continued, “You know do the math. I’m assuming they’re going to have to push the start date back three or four months. So now we were talking two months ago saying, ‘Yeah I think we might be able to be on football this year.’ Not betting on football this year. Hopefully, maybe betting on football next year.”
