OHIO LAWMAKERS COMPROMISE TO PASS HB 29 SPORTS BETTING BILL

In a rare move for a sports betting bill, Ohio lawmakers went from having no meaningful progress to agreeing on and passing HB 29 within about a week.

Looking to neighboring states West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Michigan, lawmakers from the Buckeye State were eager to legalize sports betting and recapture some lost gambling revenues from bettors traveling out-of-state.

Sports betting legislation, which just passed the OH Senate 31-1 and the House 72-12, has been on the table since mid-2020. Ohio House Reps were pushing back on the text of the bill, but after this week’s compromise, betting is expected to go live sometime in 2023.

Those compromises included some removal of certain restrictions on betting in Ohio, including the removal of a restriction against building retail sportsbooks in counties with populations of less than 100,000.

Additionally, lawmakers will perform studies on inclusivity (similar to Maryland) to ensure that licenses are made available to operators without prejudice against ethnicity or gender. Esports will also be available under the text of HB 29.

The bill will establish three classes of sports betting licenses (Types A-C) to be overseen by the Ohio Casino Control Commission, with the lottery responsible for contractual agreements with Type C providers. There will be a total of 25 mobile licenses up for grabs, taxed at 10%.

• Type A licensees will include casinos and sporting venues/franchises
• Type B licensees will include retail sportsbooks (none exist currently in OH, they will have to be built)
• Type C licensees will include establishments with a valid liquor license

Licenses are set at a $3 million price tag for the first “skin” and a $10 million price tag for the second, which operators can apply for if they can convince regulators that there is “incremental economic benefit” in doing so. (A “skin” refers to a sportsbook operator/partner like DraftKings or BetMGM; the Type A licensees above will be able to offer more than one skin if they prove said benefit).

According to the synopsis of the bill, there will be a universal start date of January 1st, 2023, and operators will not be able to take bets on their sportsbooks before then- however, the bill itself allows the OCCC (Ohio Casino Control Commission) to start accepting applications by January 2022 and approving them by April of same year.

While the legislation still hasn’t received approval from OH Governor Mike DeWine, the governor has said in no uncertain terms that he would approve the bill, simply stating: “It’s time to do it (read: legalize sports betting in Ohio).”

Written by Allie Nelson, with an addendum to content by Chris Altman. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.

Featured image captured by Steve Grant, and can be found here.