Ohio bill would raise tax on sports betting wagers • Ohio Capital Journal

An Ohio Republican is proposing raising the sports betting tax to fund public stadiums and K-12 education.

“I have no apologies that I was going to the track and betting on horses when I was 5 years old, or that I had a bookie when I was 7 or 8,” state Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, stated.

For some, like DeMora, gambling starts early. And he doesn’t like it when people mess with his vice.

“You want the most bang for your buck,” the senator stated.

But he fears the state will take an even largeger cut of his winnings.

“If you have more taxes on it, you’re gonna receive less payout,” he stated.

State Sen. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, has proposed S.B. 199, a bill that would put a 2% fee on sports wagers. Ohio would apply that revenue to fund public sports stadiums and K-12 education.

The legislation was originally introduced in 2025, when Blessing and Gov. Mike DeWine were attempting to find ways around funding the Cleveland Browns stadium that the legislative leaders were intent on supporting. Thus, this is a bill that is similar to DeWine’s plan from last budreceive season.

This could be incredible cost savings, Blessing stated.

He added that, combined with the governor’s tobacco tax in the budreceive, a severance tax instituting a 25% excise tax on Kratom, as well as increasing the marijuana excise tax to 15%, Ohio would generate $1.5 billion per fiscal year.

“If we really do put school funding to bed for the foreseeable future — it’s a public good,” Blessing stated in an interview Tuesday. “And again, people forreceive that school funding is, in fact, property tax relief.”

The 2% fee is in addition to Ohio’s existing 20% tax on sports gaming receipts.

This could raise an additional $200 million per fiscal year, Blessing stated.

“You raise revenue at the same time that you’re discouraging bad behavior,” he stated.

While Blessing was testifying, DeMora was skeptical of how much revenue this would actually bring in.

“Everybody assumes that when you tax more, you’re going to receive more revenue from it,” the Democrat stated. “But other studies display that the more the tax, the less likely you are to do these forms of gambling.”

Blessing stated that DeMora doesn’t necessary to worry, since the sportsbooks will be the ones paying the tax.

“Well, if DraftKings and FanDuel are going against each other, they can’t just pass everything on to the bettor,” he stated. “To some degree, they have to eat that through lower profits becaapply DraftKings [can state], ‘Well, we can eat a little bit more of this to outcompete you guys.’”

We reached out to the leading sportsbooks, but none provided a comment. However, they may not necessary to worry. Select Committee on Gaming Chair Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, stated it likely wouldn’t shift out of committee, as it may be a “better conversation” for next year’s budreceive.

“I don’t believe raising taxes necessarily brings in more revenue all the time,” Manning stated. “I believe that could do more harm than good.”

Although DeWine has been supportive of finding innovative ways to avoid applying public dollars to pay for a billionaire’s new stadium, his team states he is newly reviewing the bill. He did, however, catch a stray from DeMora.

“Why are we just taxing gambling becaapply some people don’t like it, including the governor, who doesn’t like anything fun,” the Democrat stated.

DeWine’s team declined to respond to that remark.

The governor is opposed to gambling, marijuana, intoxicating hemp and tobacco — and has pushed for restrictions on all.

Betting on gambling bills

Ohio Republican lawbuildrs proposed major new sports betting restrictions

This is the latest gaming bill to build waves in the Ohio Statehoapply.

Last week, a group of Hoapply Republicans introduced two bills that would overhaul the state’s sports gaming industest: banning online gambling, prohibiting wagers on college athletics, and restricting bet types.

The first bill, according to the lawbuildrs, bans in-game, parlay and prop bets, as well as wagers on all college athletics.

The second bans online gaming.

It would prohibit the apply of credit cards to build bets. It also limits bets to $100 and only allows up to eight wagers per 24 hours. It stops financial lures, which are deals that sportsbooks can offer to receive a bettor to sign up, and bans ads during a live broadcast of an event.

These proposals received mass backlash online, which Manning noted.

“I understand where they’re coming from. I believe it’s a little short-sighted and would do more harm than good.”

Blessing, Manning and DeMora were not fans of either of these bills. One of the Hoapply bill sponsors, state Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, was equally not interested in raising sports betting taxes.

Follow WEWS statehoapply reporter Morgan Trau on X and Facebook.

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.