It wasn’t long ago when Ohio Governor Mike DeWine publicly rued his personal involvement in legalizing sports betting in the state.
Now, a group of Republican lawmakers has introduced two bills that would drastically alter the gambling landscape in the Buckeye State. The legislation would ban all online sports betting (OSB); prohibit wagering on college sports; eliminate in-game, prop, and parlay bets; cap wagers at $100; prevent the use of credit cards for deposits; and ban gambling ads during games.
The Republican cohort consists of:
- Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery)
- Rep. Johnathan Newman (R-Troy)
- Rep. Riordan McClain (R-Upper Sandusky)
- Rep. Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta)
The two bills are committed to sports integrity in Ohio, which was rocked by the MLB spot-fixing scandal involving Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz.
“Can you imagine the pitcher on the mound controlling the game to win bets?” Newman said rhetorically during yesterday’s press conference.
Weighing Lost Revenue & Increased Gambling Addictions
The most significant measure introduced is a ban on all online sports betting in Ohio. In 2025, online betting contributed $584,887,009 in sports gaming revenue for Ohio. Retail revenue was limited to just $7,109,349.
The ongoing scandal involving Clase and Ortiz was a major contributor to the creation of this legislation, as was a state report that revealed an increase in gambling addictions.
“We were going to put some common-sense consumer protections in place to protect Ohio citizens,” Click said.
Tamera Hunter, who works for a Kent-based health organization that helps treat addictive conditions, believes online betting “is having a direct impact on people’s health” after being legalized in 2023.
“Gambling addiction has severely escalated since then,” she said. “We’re definitely seeing through our screening an increase of 25%-30% since online sports betting has gone live.”
Click echoed those sentiments.
“When you combine the addiction of gambling with the addiction of one of these devices,” he said, holding up a cell phone. “It’s synergistic in a bad way.”
He added, “We are financing mental health issues here in Ohio, and everyone talks about, ‘Well, it’s going to be a tax benefit,’ but not really when we’re creating mental health issues for our friends and for our neighbors.”
Do These Bills Have a Realistic Chance of Passing?
Republican lawmakers, aware of the popularity of online sports betting, admit they are “facing an uphill battle” to pass the bills.
McClain acknowledged receiving “mixed results from his GOP colleagues, and even the very anti-gambling (DeWine) disagrees with portions.”
Ohio successfully removed college prop bets from the state’s online betting menu in 2024. DeWine also succeeded in lobbying MLB and sportsbooks to implement restrictions on micro-prop bets and limits on those wagers.
While select parts of the current bills — banning credit cards and gambling adverts during games — may be adopted, it’s unlikely that a total ban on online sports betting will be enacted.
