After months of will they or won’t they, lawmakers introduced a sports betting bill in Ohio on May 6.
“I’m working very diligently on that, conferring with my Senate President Matt Huffman,” said Senator Kirk Schuring. “It’s right now 250 pages. We’re not saying it’s perfect; we’re saying ‘OK let’s have hearings and let the interested parties come in.’”
The bill covers more than sports betting. It involves electronic bingo, iLottery and video lottery terminals.
The Select Committee on Gaming held multiple hearings on sports betting earlier this year, listening to viewpoints of casino operators, sportsbooks, tech suppliers, lottery retailers and pro sports teams, according to Legal Sports Report.
The committee will hold even more hearings.
The wrench that could gum up the works continues to be whether the lottery or the casino control commission will regulate the system, according to Sports Handle.
Other unanswered questions: will pro sports teams will receive a “skin”; will bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and similar establishments participate; will the pro leagues get a monopoly on league data; and how many operators will be allowed.
Ohio’s professional sports teams and leagues favor Ohio Casino Control Commission, which allows sports betting licenses for Ohio’s four casinos, seven racinos and the state’s professional sports franchises. This model is similar to ones currently used in New Jersey and Michigan, which offer gamblers a number of different skins to choose from.
Under the Ohio Lottery Commission, the number of skins would be fewer but would allow restaurants, bars and bowling alleys to operate sports betting kiosks.
“Ohio has the opportunity to get it right and the way to get it right is to allow the sports teams to have fair market access, to have healthy competition, to limit the number of licenses, and to give fans the opportunities to engage with their favorite teams,” Curt Steiner, the spokesperson for the Ohio Professional Sports Coalition, told the Statehouse News Bureau a few weeks back.
A bill in 2020 got bogged down and the state lost out in revenue from sports betting. Data from GeoComply indicated 900,000 online sports betting transactions during the first four days of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament within 10 miles of Ohio’s borders.
