Ohio sports betting, gambling expansion bill heads to Senate floor with changes

The Ohio Select Committee on Gaming on Tuesday unanimously advanced the state’s sports betting bill, SB 176, to the Senate. The committee approved significant changes to the bill after reviewing 45 amendments that were submitted by committee members last week.

The bill now moves on to the Senate first, and then the House. If approved by both, and signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine, committee chairman State Senator Kirk Schuring (R) said the state would begin accepting applications for sports betting licenses on Jan. 1, 2022, with the goal of awarding licenses no later than April 1, 2022, as reported by Saturday Tradition.

Senate Bill 176 would legalize sports betting in Ohio, allowing residents to place bets on the outcome of the Cincinnati Bengals or Ohio State University Buckeyes' games. On Tuesday, the bill got a substantial makeover, increasing the number of licenses offered, giving preferential treatment to professional sports teams in Ohio and adding a new license option for bars while limiting their kiosks to two per location, Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

Under the proposed legislation, casinos, racinos and other businesses could apply for one of up to 58 licenses – 33 designated for brick-and-mortar stores and 25 for online and mobile betting – to offer sports gambling. Applicants would need to pay a $1 million fee. The Ohio Casino Control Commission would select who gets a license and oversee how they use it. 

Because of a new change, those brick-and-mortar businesses would be distributed throughout the state based on counties' populations. For example, Franklin County with more than 1 million residents could have three licenses while Hamilton County in the next population tier would be limited to two. "That's our way of saying we want to spread the economic value that we think goes with the B license," Schuring said. 

Changes to the bill made Tuesday would add another type of license: Type C for businesses with a liquor license to sell alcohol. An unlimited number of businesses could apply for these licenses for $6,000 each. However, they would be limited to two kiosks per store, which could offer spreads and over/under bets, and the Ohio Casino Control Commission would limit how many vendors can provide those kiosks. Each vendor would need to pay a $100,000 application fee.

Net revenue from sports gaming would be taxed at 10%, bringing in an estimated $17 million to $23 million starting in mid-2022, mostly for K-12 education both public and private, according to an Ohio Legislative Service Commission analysis. Another 2% of tax revenue would be distributed to gambling addiction programs. 

Moreover, Ohio's professional sports teams, the Memorial Tournament and a NASCAR event in Ohio would get a preference when applying for licenses. They would still need to meet the criteria for applying. 

The proposed legislation also would legalize electronic instant bingo, known as eBingo, at veterans and fraternal organizations, limited to 10 machines each; the attorney general and Ohio Casino Control Commission will check to ensure eBingo doesn't qualify as a slot machine. Also, it would ban tax deductions for promotional play credit for five years. After that, the deductions would increase to 10% and 20%. Wagers on competitive video games will be allowed if participants are 18 and older. 

Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, has already started to weigh in on the proposed legislation, emailing Schuring about a laundry list of changes. He suggested changes to lottery games from MGM, which owns a Cleveland racino. He also wanted lawmakers, not the Ohio Casino Control Commission, to decide the fate of betting on college sports.