In 1973, Ohio voters began a 50-year march of liberalizing the state’s gambling laws, a trek poised for another big step forward.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Nathan Manning, a Lorain County Republican, introduced a bill that unlocks a new world of gambling from your phone. Ohioans, under House Bill 197, could buy a lottery ticket, spin a roulette wheel, and pick a (possibly) winning horse with the flick of their thumbs across a pocket-sized screen.
Some of this is already possible, if not legal. Black market online casinos can already take your bets on table games. And companies like Lotto.com market themselves as a “courier service” that will buy lottery tickets on users’ behalf, sidestepping a ban on online lottery sales. Supporters of a gambling expansion say it will allow Ohio to take a piece of the revenue from something Ohioans are already doing.
The state hasn’t yet released an official estimate of how much the measure might raise. But you can see hints of big money in play in the legislation itself. Online casino licenses would cost $50 million up front, and $5 million per year to renew. Operators would pay between a 36% and 50% tax, the higher rates for those owned by or contracting with management companies.
Senate President Rob McColley didn’t directly say whether the chamber will pass the bill soon or where the “hundreds of millions of dollars” (his estimate) would go.
What the state makes off gaming
Fifty-two years ago, Ohioans voted to constitutionally authorize the state lottery, which provided $1.46 billion from its profits to fund public schools last year. Then in 2023, lawmakers legalized online sports betting. In calendar year 2024, that produced $904 million in taxable revenue, mostly flowing to schools. The hefty revenue stream for public education makes it politically difficult to roll back gambling in the state.
Ohio originally taxed sports betting at 10%, but lawmakers doubled the rate early on at the behest of the governor (who has recently proposed steering some sports betting money toward upgrades for pro stadiums). Tucked into the proposed gambling expansion, however, is a tax cut for sportsbook operators, bringing that tax back down to 10%.
So what does it all mean?
Ohio is currently sorting out a budget, a season of limited means and unlimited wants. Lawmakers have steadily decreased Ohio’s personal income tax rates over the years and are brainstorming a solution to voters’ fury over increasing property tax assessments. Lawmakers are also trying to fund a public school system alongside a separate $1 billion-plus voucher program for private schools. The federal government has cut off its COVID-19-era money spigot, and state lawmakers also want to pay as much as $1 billion to build the Cleveland Browns a new stadium.
A gambling expansion offers an enticing new revenue stream, at the cost of what critics warn could also be an expansion of an already-swelling problematic gambling trend in the state. And Democrats, including Sen. Bill DeMora of Columbus, worry online gambling could displace union jobs at brick-and-mortar casinos. And any tax imposed today would need to withstand lobbying from an industry (see sports betting) to cut down on that tax rate tomorrow.