A group of Ohio House legislators is proposing some major changes to sports gambling in the state.
Ohio legalized sports betting in 2023 and it generated over $209 million in tax revenue last year in the Buckeye State. The proposed legislation, the “Save Ohio Sports Act 2026,” would roll back much of what is permitted.
It proposes outlawing online betting, prop bets and betting on college sports. It also places a $100 daily wagering limit, prohibits the use of credit cards (which currently is allowable on Ohio Lottery machines), and bans wagers via a phone app.
It also would require bettors to place their wagers at one of the state’s four casinos. This month, the Ohio Casino Control Commission levied a $5 million fine on Kalshi for operating unlicensed sports gaming in Ohio, despite warnings to stop.
From seat belts to smoking, we have plenty of laws intended to ensure our safety and improve our quality of life. We must suppose that the goal of the latest proposal, too, is to save people from themselves. After all, no one is going to drive an hour to a casino to bet on the Browns when they can lose their money in the comfort of their own home.
It also can’t be argued that sports betting has completely permeated sports culture and media, and has all but ruined sports-talk radio in particular. Its legalization has resulted in increased gambling addictions, more suicide, and athletes being harassed and threatened by degenerate gamblers who would step over their own mothers to bet on how many raindrops will hit a window in 10 seconds.
Sports commissioners have always hated sports betting. In new his book, “Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling,” Danny Funt cites a warning to Congress by the late NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue:
“Legalized sports gambling sends a terrible message to youth … about government that ‘anything goes’ when it comes to raising revenues or bolstering local economies, and we might as well legalize, sponsor and promote any activity so that the state can get its ‘cut.'”
The late NBA Commissioner David Stern also warned Congress:
“In essence, what sports betting does is transform the betting line into the bottom line. When our fans begin to leave games feeling disappointed or cheated even though ‘their’ team has won, that spells trouble …”
That sound you hear is both gentlemen, spinning in their graves.
But no one is really surprised at the current state of sports betting, are they?
From your great-aunt Tilly’s bingo habit to the Black Sox scandal of 1919, gambling has always been a harmful — but universally human — vice. According to historians, Greek gamblers appealed to the god Hermes to bless their bets. People wagered on the gladiator games and chariot races at the Colosseum, and the Roman soldiers who nailed Jesus to his cross, literally gambled for his tunic, at the foot of it.
Some of you are old enough to remember when you could place a 25-cent bet on the daily “numbers” which were drawn twice a day, based on the stock market. The state didn’t criminalize it — was already illegal — but in the 1970s, legislators decided they wanted in on the action and established the Ohio Lottery with the central promise that it would generate millions for public schools.
But in 2026, the genie has escaped the bottle.
Elvis has left the building.
There’s no point now in Katie trying to bar the door.
Ohioans voted to legalize gambling, with all its unintended and unforeseen consequences.
If the legislation is passed, the gaming lobby will be in court waving around the First Amendment and yowling about free expression and the pursuit of happiness quicker than you can ask, “What’s the over-under?”
While the attempt to reform sports wagering is probably sincere, it also highlights a bad habit that Ohio Republican legislators have for trying to undo election results they don’t like, even though the current law was written by Republicans, approved by Republicans, and signed into law by a Republican governor.
In 2023, an amendment to protect abortion access passed by 57%, but state legislators have been unrelenting in trying to undo it or diminish it.
Perhaps they should pause and ask themselves why it was approved by such a large, bipartisan majority. It might be because, even in a so-called “red state,” conservatives’ daughters have abortions, too.
In August 2023, Ohio voters rejected a Republican proposal that would have imposed higher thresholds for ballot petitions and require 60% voter approval for constitutional amendments, rather than a simple majority.
In the fall of that same year, they voted to legalize recreational marijuana, but that, too, is being buffeted by post-election attempts to change the law.
Now, not every decision voters make at the ballot box is wise or prescient, but they also are not stupid. They know overreach when they see it.
Legislators seem to forget that Ohioans are Americans, and Americans don’t like being bossed around, even if what is being proposed may be to their benefit.
Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Attempt to reform sports betting may be too little, too late | Goshay
Reporting by Charita M. Goshay, Canton Repository / The Repository
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