Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says that Major League Baseball’s (MLB) sports betting-related investigation into multiple Cleveland Guardians players is more evidence that it is time to stop allowing proposition betting in the state.
The governor issued a press release on July 31 calling on the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) to remove prop bets from the list of legal bets that can be offered by licensed sportsbooks.
SBC Americas reached out to the OCCC for a comment on DeWine’s public notice.
“The Commission works closely with Governor DeWine’s Office and General Assembly in serving the citizens of Ohio and protecting the integrity of gaming in the state,” a spokesperson told SBC Americas on Aug. 1. “To that end, staff is gathering information for the Commission to consider. The Commission will announce its next steps in the upcoming days.”
DeWine’s statement directly referenced the MLB investigation into Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase, both of whom have been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave amid a sports betting investigation. Multiple reports have suggested that at least one sportsbook, working with its monitoring and integrity partner IC360, flagged suspicious betting activity around Ortiz’s pitches in multiple games in June.
The governor noted that it’s not only these recent incidents that have given him concern about prop betting. He also cited harassment and threats that collegiate athletes at the University of Dayton allegedly received related to wagering and their performances. That situation was ultimately a factor in the OCCC’s February 2024 decision to ban all college athletics player prop bets.
Now, DeWine says it’s time to apply the same restriction to pro sports.
DeWine looks to get pro sports leagues on board
The governor will urge the commissioners and players’ unions of MLB, the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Soccer (MLS) to support a ban on prop betting.
“The evidence that prop betting is harming athletics in Ohio is reaching critical mass,” he wrote. “First, there were threats on Ohio athletes, and now two high-profile Ohio professional athletes have been suspended by Major League Baseball as part of a ‘sports betting investigation.’
“The harm to athletes and the integrity of the game is clear, and the benefits are not worth the harm. The prop betting experiment in this country has failed badly. I call on the Casino Control Commission to correct this problem and remove all prop bets from the Ohio marketplace.”
Micro betting under the spotlight again
DeWine, who also opposes allowing online casio gambling in the state, suggested there is a particular problem with micro bets, wagers on highly specific events within games that do not affect the outcome of the game at hand, such as whether the next pitch in baseball will be a ball or a strike.
Micro betting is increasingly coming under the microscope.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters around the time of the league’s All-Star Game that he believes “certain types of bets” are unnecessary offerings and particularly vulnerable to manipulation and integrity concerns.
“Things where it’s one single act don’t affect the outcome necessarily, we should continue to think about that. Do we really need that last kind of bet?” Manfred asked.
In recent days, a New Jersey lawmaker introduced a bill that would ban all micro bets that concern the outcome of the next play or action in a game. The bill’s text suggests that the pace at which micro bets can be placed limits gamblers’ ability to “research and consider” the wagers before placing them and contributes to “excessive and irresponsible gambling.”
“The pace of micro betting is designed to keep people gambling constantly, making one impulsive bet after another with little time to think,” said that bill’s sponsor, Rep. Dan Hutchison.
