New Bill in Ohio House Would Legalize Sports Betting

Would you cruise down to your nearest casino to place bets on the Final Four? You might have the opportunity to do so if the Ohio General Assembly passes a bill introduced yesterday by Cincinnati Democrat State Rep. Brigid Kelly and Republican State Rep. Dave Greenspan, who represents suburban Cleveland.

Under the proposed legislation, the Ohio State Lottery Commission would oversee betting on professional and collegiate sporting events at the state's 11 casinos as well as at veterans halls and fraternal clubs, collecting a 10-percent tax on betting that would go to school districts and gambling addiction treatment and prevention.

The tax could generate as much as $30 million a year, researchers suggest. That amount could double if online sports betting were also to become legal — an issue Kelly and Greenspan made room for in their legislation pending the results of ongoing court battles around that question.

Currently, eight states allow sports betting and 20 others are considering legislation to do the same. The bill in the Ohio House is modeled after one passed in West Virginia last year. Those states legalized sports betting after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down laws banning the practice.

Read more: https://www.citybeat.com/news/blog/21063718/new-bill-in-ohio-house-would-legalize-sports-betting