Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill to legalize sports betting in the state in 2021. He now regrets it and would support the idea of repealing it.
Amid betting and match-fixing scandals in MLB, centred on Ohio’s Cleveland Guardians, and the NBA, DeWine told The Associated Press that he “absolutely” believes that ushering legal, regulated sports betting into the Buckeye State was the wrong thing to do.
“The power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to advertise and do everything they can to get someone to place that bet is really different once you have legalization of them,” he said. “Ohio shouldn’t have done it.”
No chance Ohio is ready to walk it back, says DeWine
DeWine’s signature in December 2021 authorized Ohio to begin allowing adults aged 21 and older to bet on sports online and via mobile across the state, as well as at the state’s land-based casinos, racinos and at participating retailers.
He told the AP that his nagging regrets began soon after the law took effect in 2023, as his office began receiving word of college athletes being harassed by angry gamblers. DeWine and NCAA President Charlie Baker worked together on pushing for a ban on college player prop bets, which the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) implemented in February 2024.
DeWine suggested to the AP that he would sign a bill that repealed legal sports betting in Ohio if one reached his desk, but he thinks there is scant chance of that happening.
“There’s not the votes for that,” he said. “I’m not always right, but I can pretty much guarantee you that they’re not ready to do this.”
Lawmakers in a couple of other states raised the idea of repealing online sports betting at the start of 2025, but neither the effort in Vermont nor the proposal in Maryland made much headway.
Meanwhile, the major pieces of online gambling-related legislation discussed in Ohio in 2025 proposed expanding online gambling by legalizing online casino, something DeWine labeled a bad idea. Another bill in Ohio proposed increasing the tax burden on sportsbooks, something DeWine wanted to do in his state budget this year.
If you can’t repeal, then restrict
With a walk-back of legalized sports betting likely a dead issue, DeWine will instead continue to push for more controls on how Ohioans can bet.
In light of the indictments of Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz for manipulating their own pitches for the purposes of betting, MLB announced that its authorized betting operators would cap the stake of pitch-level prop bets at $200 and exclude them from parlays. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred commended DeWine as part of the league’s announcement, after DeWine had called on the OCCC to ban prop bets.
“Gov. DeWine really did a huge service, I think — to us, certainly, I can’t speak for any of the other sports — in terms of kind of bringing forward the need to do something in this area,” said Manfred last week, per the AP.
DeWine said he would prefer to completely ban what he called “micro-prop bets” but insisted that MLB’s measure constitutes progress. “You try to warn people and you try to take action like we did with collegiate [props], and you try to take action like what we’re doing with baseball. But we’ve got to keep pushing these other sports to do it, too.”
After the MLB announced its measure, the OCCC told SBC Americas that it is not looking to implement its own rule on prop betting for fear that it could “inadvertently impede” other conversations. However, the commission added that it could pursue a change in its betting regulations, “should it become apparent that regulatory action is necessary.”
