DeWine’s budget plans want to double Ohio sports betting tax

Ohio State University Buckeye mascot
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Ohio sports betting is barely a month old but Gov. Mike DeWine already wants more from the industry. According to Statehouse News, his proposed budget for FY2024-2025 would double the current sports betting tax rate of 10% to 20%.

Gov. DeWine’s office listed his goals related to sports betting in the state as:

  • Making betting-related threats against athletes a crime
  • Authorizing the Casino Control Commission to remove a proprietor’s ability to issue promotional credits as a sanction
  • Changing the sports wagering tax rate to 20%

The Ohio Casino Control Commission has yet to report any revenue numbers since sports betting launched in the state on Jan. 1. Projections for the first year of sports betting handle were around $10 billion. That would mean less than $10 million in tax revenue for a state whose enthusiasm for sports betting has been compared to New York. New York, on the other hand, collected over $700 million in taxes during the first year thanks to its hefty 51% tax rate.

Operators recently testified to New York lawmakers that they did not believe the status quo was sustainable and requested they reconsider the steep rate.

On the flip side, 10% is well below the national average when it comes to sports betting tax. However, Ohio is not a state which allows promotional credit deductions at launch. In fact, for the first four years of Ohio sports betting, operators are not allowed to take promotional credit deductions. After that, the deductions are limited to 10% of revenue from 2027-2031 and goes up to 20% after 2032.