faces a $350K fine<\/a> after it mailed out promotional mailers to more than 2,000 Ohioans under the age of 21, the minimum age to bet in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nPenn Sports Interactive also faces a $250K fine after Barstool Sports personalities promoted Barstool Sportsbook during a college football show held at the University of Toledo in November.<\/span><\/p>\nIn his budget proposal, DeWine wants to ensure that any \u201cfree or risk-free\u201d credits sportsbooks offer don’t require bettors to make a deposit or risk their funds in order to use or withdraw winnings. Operators violating that would be subject to penalties from the OCCC, including a possible ban on offering promotional credits or bonuses.<\/span><\/p>\nCutting Off Bettors Who Make Threats<\/span><\/h2>\nIt\u2019s not just sportsbook behavior that has raised concerns. Shortly after sports betting became legal in Ohio, University of Dayton men\u2019s basketball coach Anthony Grant commented that sports bettors targeted his players after a Flyers loss.<\/span><\/p>\nThat led to OCCC Executive Director Matt Schuler speaking out about it during the commission\u2019s January meeting. He called for commissioners to consider barring individuals from betting on sports in the state if they threaten athletes.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nIn response, DeWine\u2019s budget proposal would allow the sports betting exclusion list to \u201cinclude any person who threatens violence or harm against any person who is involved in a sporting event, where the threat is related to sports gaming.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nOdds Likely Against Tax Hike<\/span><\/h2>\nOf the proposed changes DeWine has inserted, the 20% tax rate seems least likely to stick. That would seem counter to what lawmakers wanted when they legalized sports betting in late 2021. Legislators pushed the 10% tax rate and also said they wanted to get as many businesses involved in sports betting as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
Ohio is the fourth-largest state to offer sports betting, and the three states ahead of it \u2013 New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois \u2013 have higher tax rates (although New York only taxes retail sportsbooks at 10%). <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe higher tax rate also seems, on the face of it, to potentially punish the wrong players. The four sportsbooks cited by the OCCC are considered on the upper end of the sports betting market and more likely to bear the impact of the higher tax rate. Ohio has also licensed several smaller operators, and none of those have been cited by the OCCC for violations. Those operators, who will likely hold a smaller share of the revenue, would be the ones most affected by doubling the tax rate. <\/span><\/p>\nThe OCCC will release January sports betting revenue figures at the end of this month.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sports betting in Ohio has only been around for six weeks. However, that\u2019s enough time for Gov. Mike DeWine to call for some major changes. Among the items in DeWine’s proposed two-year budget, the Republican governor wants the tax on sports betting revenues doubled to 20%, the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) to be able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":259392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,1074],"tags":[84991,81911,80968],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Ohio Governor Seeks Changes to Sports Betting Law in Budget Bill<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n