The Ohio state legislature’s Study Commission on the Future of Gaming in Ohio delivered its final report recently and the 354-page document covered a huge range of gambling expansion opportunities for the state.
The report covered gaming verticals including but not limited to:
- Online casinos
- iLottery
- Horse racing reform
- Sports betting reform
- Charitable gaming
- Bingo
With such a wide range of topics and such a dense report, there were no cut-and-dry resolutions and decisions about how to move forward. The 11-person committee did not make any unilateral recommendations about how the legislature should proceed in 2025 and beyond, but there were some important talking points in the presentation.
Here are the major takeaways from the report when it comes to online gambling and its future in the Buckeye State:
There is no consensus on the future of Ohio Gaming
Oftentimes when special legislative committees provide a report to the legislature, the committee pens a single letter en masse about the findings presented to them and general conclusions. That was not the case in Ohio. Seven different lawmakers penned a total of five letters, each drawing different conclusions about the state should move forward.
Given the scope of the committee, this is not surprising. Issues ranged from online casinos to iLottery to horse racing to charitable gaming, so it was a tall order to draw conclusions that the committee would all agree with unilaterally. The committee also included a couple of members who oppose any form of gambling expansion, meaning consensus was not going to happen from the jump.
Problem gambling in Ohio has been on the rise since casinos opened
Land-based casinos in Ohio opened in 2012 and, with that launch, research in Ohio has indicated that problem gambling prevalence rates began to rise. Sports betting draws a lot of the ire, but gambling expansion, in general, has correlated with an uptick in the overall percentage of the population gambling and the rates of problem gambling:
Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Office of Prevention and Problem Gambling Chief Stacey Frohnapfel-Hasson told the committee their research indicates that three out of every 100 Ohioans is diagnosable with a gambling disorder. That number of people adds up to just over 250,000, roughly the population of Toledo.
Land-based casinos divided over iGaming
As in other states, the land-based operators are divided on whether or not online casino expansion would help or hurt the state’s existing retail casino business. Caesars, Penn and MGM understandably submitted testimony on the benefits of expansion, as did Boyd Gaming, which has a longstanding relationship with FanDuel.
Boyd Gaming Vice President of Governmental Affairs Ryan Soultz went into detail about how online casinos have brought in new land-based customers as well as re-engaged dormant players, using New Jersey as an example.
“When matching our online and land-based databases, we found that 60% of online casino customers had not been to Borgata in over a year, and over 75% had made fewer than two trips to Borgata in the past year. And on a combined basis, online and land-based poker revenue at Borgata was up more than 40% from our land-based play in December 2012,” he noted. “Clearly, online gaming is complementary to our land-based business, not competitive. Boyd Gaming embraces online gaming and sees it as an important distribution opportunity. The roll-out in New Jersey is a good first step, but we are looking forward to opportunities in other markets as well.”
Smaller operators who are not connected to nationally prominent online gambling brands took a much different stance.
JACK Senior Vice President Government Affairs Daniel Reinhard spoke about how he views online casinos not only as a hindrance to the retail industry but something that is questionably legal as well.
“iGaming is a threat to Ohio businesses and Ohio employment,” he wrote.
“iGaming as presented to this Commission will not bolster Ohio’s gaming climate or benefit Ohioans. The proposal is flawed under the Ohio Constitution and Ohio court decisions. Ohioans can observe their local malls to understand the impact that iGaming will have on local economies.”
Miami Valley Gaming also expressed concerns about cannibalization. Hard Rock testimony was noticeably absent from the report.
Caesars doesn’t seem to care about online poker
Caesars Entertainment submitted a robust presentation on the benefits of iGaming to a state, but one brand that did not get mentioned once in its presentation is the World Series of Poker.
The brand is fresh off a huge summer and another record-setting Main Event, but WSOP.com, the online poker arm of the brand, continues to pale in comparison.
The brand is live in New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Michigan but has not launched in West Virginia and does not have a path to operate in Rhode Island.
When it comes to advocating for online casino expansion, it seems most operators, including the one with the most recognizable brand in the game, are more keen to focus on slots and table games and, if online poker gets thrown in as a bonus, they will take it.
Ohio Lottery says sports betting impacted their business
State lotteries in other states have voiced concerns about online casinos impacting businesses, but the Ohio Lottery told the committee that sports betting is negatively impacting the business. In its testimony, the lottery said that Keno sales were, by their estimates, down 7% since the launch of sports betting.
Moreover, the Class C licenses that allow the lottery to issue kiosk licenses to bars, grocery stores and other establishments have produced lackluster results. The lottery and one of the major kiosk brands, U Bet, lamented the need for change to the Class C structure. Most notably, they called on the legislature to allow these kiosks to offer the same betting catalog as apps and casinos, as they are currently limited on what kinds of bets they can offer.