A bill that would legalize sports betting in Ohio is now under consideration by Buckeye State lawmakers.
This is the first such bill to be introduced. The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Senator John Eklund and Senator Sean O’Brien. Both fully understand that the bill will be subject to rigorous, substantial debate. So far, no hearings have been scheduled.
It has the support of new Governor Mike DeWine, who is realistic enough not to include revenue from sports betting in his first budget. “Let’s see where the legislature wants to go and how they want to do it,” he said in answer to a reporter’s question.
The bill would tax sports betting revenues at 6.25 percent, but that rate is likely to be the subject of some of the most extensive debate.
Senate President Larry Obhof says he isn’t keen on sports betting “in every tavern across the state,” which would be enabled by mobile sports betting, instead of confining it to brick and mortar retail locations.
Others point to complications that have just been introduced by the Justice Department’s opinion that the Wire Act of 1961 applies to online gaming, including online sports betting.
Senator Bill Coley told the Toledo Blade “You’d have to make it so it would be highly unlikely that a mobile application does not ping off a tower that is not located in your state, so that all of the communications stay in your state.”
Most of the states that have so far legalized sports betting, including nearby Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan, have included mobile betting or are seriously discussing it. To not do so might put Ohio at a serious competitive disadvantage.
Most Ohio lawmakers agree that it would not be necessary to amend the state constitution to allow sports betting since Ohio voters authorized casinos in a statewide vote ten years ago. At that time they established a 33 percent tax on gambling. A factor that will undoubtedly be brought up when the 6.25 percent in the bill is discussed.
Some suggest that the existing casinos have the inherent legal ability to open kiosks for sports betting. But that would depend on how the term “casino gaming” is interpreted.
