The Buckeye State is entering its third year of legalized sports betting, and if it’s anything like the first two, there could be a few headlines generated and trails blazed.
While it is not the biggest market for retail and online sports wagering in the United States, Ohio has become an influential one in the newer cohort. Local lawmakers and regulators have shown a willingness to make changes and examples when they feel it is needed, sometimes to the industry's chagrin.
Whether more tinkering to Ohio sports betting will happen in 2025 is uncertain, but there are signs that efforts could at least be made. Recently proposed legislation and a detailed study of the Buckeye State’s status quo for gambling suggest as much.
One more for the road
Republican State Sen. Niraj Antani (one of the backers of Ohio’s sports betting legalization legislation) introduced a bill in September aiming to legalize and regulate online casino gambling. Antani also introduced a bill in 2023 seeking to cut Ohio's tax rate for sportsbook operators from 20% to 10%, where it was originally set.
"Our border states, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, and West Virginia, now all have significantly lower tax rates," Antani wrote in a letter to the Ohio Senate's Finance Committee. "This puts us at a significant regional and national disadvantage. As well, it makes it significantly difficult for b and c license holders [brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and lottery betting kiosks] to be financially feasible."
Both pieces of legislation are dead and Antani is no longer a member of the state legislature. However, with Ohio’s new legislative session set to start next week, there is a chance someone else picks up the baton.
Today is my last day as State Senator and as a Member of the Ohio General Assembly. As I ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2024, I was unable to seek re-election to the Ohio Senate, and thus my term ends today. It has been the high honor and distinct privilege of my life to have… pic.twitter.com/dtooVzB7et
— Niraj Antani (@NirajAntani) December 31, 2024
The Ohio General Assembly was also given additional food for thought in July, when the Study Commission on the Future of Gaming in Ohio released its report. Included in the document was a letter from three Republican House members on the committee that was supportive of iGaming and critical of the state’s ban on college player prop betting and higher tax rate for sportsbooks.
Another section of the report was a letter from the co-chair of the commission, Republican State Sen. Nathan Manning, who suggested the legislature should look at how to improve the environment for physical sportsbooks.
“These brick-and-mortar locations provide jobs for many Ohioans, and it would be beneficial for everyone to work alongside them to find commonsense solutions,” Manning wrote. “While not necessarily a complete solution, I believe lowering the tax rate for Type B’s back down to 10 percent would hopefully allow existing sportsbooks to be more successful and attract other companies to open new ones.”
Manning added that it was also clear that improvements are needed for the state’s lottery sports betting kiosks, “as they are not working as intended.”
“This could include working with vendors and the Lottery in order to make a product that is more consumer friendly and enjoyable,” Manning wrote. “One possibility is exploring the removal of some of the barriers that put Type C sportsbooks at a competitive disadvantage compared to other sports betting options and discourages consumers from using Type C kiosks.”
Setting a good example
Taxes and college player props are two areas where Ohio has been a trendsetter. The Buckeye State bumped its levy on bookmakers up to 20% in 2023, which arguably helped embolden lawmakers elsewhere to try something similar.
In 2024, Illinois did follow through with a significant tax hike on sports betting companies, raising its rate to as high as 40% for operators. Michigan lawmakers then kicked the tires in December on a much smaller hike — a 0.1 percentage point increase — even though the timing meant the measure was unlikely to go anywhere, which is where it went.
Ohio’s influence was also felt in the debate around college player prop wagering. In February of 2024, the Ohio Casino Control Commission, at the request of an NCAA concerned about student-athlete welfare, banned those betting markets. Maryland, Vermont, and Louisiana followed suit.
Undoing a tax hike or a college player prop ban would be a new wrinkle for the legal sports betting landscape. While none of that may come to pass in 2025, it’s at least possible it gets considered in Columbus over the coming year. Add to that the Ohio Casino Control Commission’s reputation as a relatively strict regulator, and it’s possible the Buckeye State is once again an example other states may follow in 2025.
