In Ohio, the Senate Finance Committee has held six hearing on HB 194, which would legalize gambling on professional and collegiate sports at casinos, racinos and fraternal and veterans’ organizations and allow online and mobile wagering. Sports betting would not be allowed at lottery retailers including bowling alleys, convenience stores or bars.
The bill calls for the Ohio Lottery Commission to regulate sports betting to assure profits will go toward education. Senate Bill 111 calls for the Casino Control Commission to oversee sports wagering, believing it’s better equipped to oversee betting. That bill hasn’t had a hearing as yet.
The Senate bill would allow wagering on college sports. But at one of the House committee hearings, Bruce E. Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council, which consists of Ohio’s 14 public universities, spoke against allowing wagering on collegiate sports. He said sports betting could tempt college athletes to take payoffs to lower their performance, share information about injuries and impact the outcome of games.
“Unfortunately, it’s human nature. It would not take a great leap of logic to conclude the risk of student athletes soliciting and accepting payments in order influence the outcome of games may increase,” Johnson said. He noted the National Collegiate Athletic Association also opposes legalizing betting on college sports.
He added if gambling on college sports is legalized, universities would need to spend money on compliance and training to help protect athletes, coaches and students from wrongdoing associated with gambling.
Regarding allowing betting on college sports, Governor Mike DeWine said, “That’s something that before we do anything, we certainly would consult with our universities in Ohio. I have not yet had that personal conversation.”
The House bill includes taxing gross sports wagering revenue at 10 percent, which would generate an estimated $17.8 million on $177 million in revenue in the first year and $23.7 million on $237 million in the second year, analysts said.
Penn National Gaming Vice President of Sports Book Scot McClintic testified in support of the legislation. He said lawmakers should limit sports wagering to casinos and racinos which provide a safe and secure environment for sports betting. He said gaming facilities spend millions of dollars annually on surveillance equipment and operators to ensure the safety of transactions. “Coupled with the financial risk of taking a sports wager, where operators routinely lose significant amounts of money due to the volatility of sports betting, non-gaming operators simply cannot afford to manage all of these risks effectively,” McClintic said.
