- Ohio sports betting could be legal before the end of 2019.
- OH HB 194 would allow casinos, racinos, veteran’s halls, and fraternal organizations to host sports betting.
- There is no mobile betting allowance in the bill.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio sports betting is inching closer to legalization. House Bill 194, which saw little traction in the last legislative session, now has bipartisan support.
The bill, which would legalize and tax sports betting in Ohio, is co-sponsored by Dave Greenspan (R-16) and Brigid Kelly (D-31).
There are no mobile betting or Internet-based wagering provisions in HB 194. However, the state would offer an unprecedented number of brick-and-mortar betting locales.
Under the current proposal, established gambling venues, veteran’s halls, and fraternal organizations would be able to host legal sports betting.
In the case of the veteran’s and fraternal organizations, only members of these associations would be able to wager. Further, each such locale must have a liquor license and a lottery license.
Such venues are also limited to a single sports betting kiosk or terminal.
Most Ohio bettors will have to use a sportsbook in one of the state’s gaming centers. Ohio has four land-based casinos and seven racinos, each of which would be eligible to host sports wagering.
Ohio’s casino and racino venues would pay a licensing fee of $100,000. The legislation also establishes a $100,000 annual renewal fee.
Veteran’s halls and fraternal organizations would pay $1,000 license fees and $1,000 annual renewal fees.
All sports betting retailers would pay a tax of 10% on gross gaming revenue. These taxes are earmarked for Ohio education initiatives.
In testimony Thursday, Kelly stressed that such tax revenues would not replace existing school funding.
“We talk all the time about needing more resources for schools, and we think this is a good vehicle in which to accomplish that. We’ve been clear that this is additive, it is not a supplement, it is not meant to replace anything, it is meant to only enhance funding for education…”
Greenspan agrees, though his aims with HB 194 are not limited to taxation issues. The omnibus bill affects the entire $1.8-billion-dollar gambling industry in Ohio. Greenspan’s goal is to save time in the future as the marketplace evolves.
“What we are doing is creating a broad framework [so] that, as this industry evolves, [gambling operators] don’t have to come back to us every time there is a new game or there’s a new activity that is impacting their industry.”
It remains to be seen whether this leaves the door open for Ohio to allow online sports betting in the future without new legislation.
News tags: OH HB 194 | Ohio | sports betting
Andy has been writing professionally for nearly two decades, with the last three years being dedicated to his primary passions: sports wagering news and gambling industry analyses. A walk-on punter, Andy has a particular interest in professional football, baseball, and horse racing betting. Come early May, you can always catch Andy – clad in all white, mint julep in hand – on Millionaires Row at Churchill Downs. In his dreams.
I applaud Ohio for avoiding the temptation to add mobile gaming, casino games and sports betting, from their recent bill. The inability to bet from home or work, will definitely help in preventing an otherwise inevitable increase in compulsive gambling. But restricting most of the population only to place their sport bets at the 4 casinos and 7 race tracks, will still leave many State residents preferring to continue their use of illegal offshore betting sites, on smart phone or computer; that produce no taxes, jobs or revenue to the State of Ohio or its legal gaming establishments.A compromise that I prefer, would be to approve sports betting lounges, similar to those in the United Kingdom, with a small number of Video Gaming Terminals, food and beverage service, with superior video screens to follow all sporting events, then in progress. These would be restricted to persons over 21 years of age, offer betting kiosks and prominent displays of the odds on currently available bets. And I suggest these sports betting lounges be operated by Ohio’s existing 11 casinos or racetracks; and limited only to communities that are more than 25 or 30 miles from a casino or racetrack, that is offering live sports betting. These lounges, with a much superior viewing and betting experience, than watching at home; along with the fact that they are paying taxes, and providing employment to Ohio residents; should help to offset the convenience factor of the illegal offshore sites, available at home or work. The State should also establish fines for residents playing illegal, offshore sites; and take suitable legal action against the sites themselves. I am not proposing a situation, like Illinois, where many of the 6,800 businesses have added the sale of liquor, just to qualify for 5 Video Gaming Terminals; and with over 30,000 machines, these mini slot casinos have have cut visitations to the 9 original casinos by over 50% and their casino taxes by over $525 million (63%),(2007 compared to 2017). But for my limited number of Ohio sports betting locations, they should have 10 to 25 slot machines or VGT’s, to provide a gaming activity, when no sporting events are taking place. And Ohio gaming companies would actually see their revenues increase, as they should be the operators of these sports parlors. And the addition of sports betting, and more convenient machine locations to much of the population, would increase Statewide slot win and taxes; add taxes on food and beverage sales; plus add new taxable revenue from sports betting.These parlors, where I guess the State could justify 50 to 100 locations; or in gaming machine capacity, would be like adding one new casino. These sports betting lounges would provide booths to watch current games, but also provide games that some customers missed, or were not broadcast locally. Ohio has nearly 12 million residents, with just over 50% living in the 3 largest metropolitan cities, but even in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, there are some of the metro population that are 30 minutes or more from an existing casino or racetrack, and could be an appropriate location for sports betting lounges.This proposal helps solve the compulsive gambling issue, raised by the convenience factor of gaming at home or work; provides real competition to illegal overseas gaming sites, increases State and local gaming taxes, and could provide a thousand or more jobs for residents of Ohio’s smaller communities. And all while benefiting, not harming, existing gaming establishments, like Illinois has done.