Gov. Mike DeWine signed sports betting into law.
But ever since Pete Rose placed Ohio’s first legal sports bet on New Year’s Day in 2023, DeWine has become the sportsbooks’ biggest political enemy.
As governor, DeWine used the state budget to double tax rates on the sportsbooks in 2023, and he tried to do so again this year. He led a successful regulatory crusade in 2024 to ban player-specific prop bets on NCAA games. Meanwhile, regulators appointed by the governor have imposed nearly $1.3 million in fines on DraftKings, Barstool and Fanatics, faulting them for advertising directly to people too young to gamble, for publishing misleading marketing materials about “free” bets and other issues.
The latest battle began last week, as DeWine, a Republican, announced an effort to ban “prop bets” on professional sports and publicly asked that the leagues and players’ unions back him up.
DeWine timed his announcement with a scandal emerging from the Cleveland Guardians’ locker room. On July 3, the MLB placed pitcher Luis Ortiz on non-disciplinary paid leave, which media reports attributed to unusual gambling activity in connection with two pitches Ortiz threw. The Guardians and MLB issued a joint statement July 28 announcing suspension of Emmanuel Clase, another pitcher, as part of a “sports betting investigation.”
The leagues haven’t yet taken a clear position on DeWine’s request. But already one powerful lawmaker has vowed to fight any move against prop bets in Ohio.
“I think it’s a pretty fair reading of the history to say I don’t think [DeWine is] a big fan of sports gaming generally, and I think his policies ever since signing the bill have been pretty symptomatic of that,” said House Finance Chair Brian Stewart in an interview.
What is a prop bet in sports gambling?
A prop bet is a wager that something specific will happen within a game – whether a quarterback throws for a certain number of yards or a pitcher throws a certain number of strikes. However, it’s a broad term that also captures bets on hyper-specific events, like the 15th pitch of a game being a strike or one team losing a tipoff in basketball.
DeWine’s announcement doesn’t specify exactly what counts as a prop bet. But in an interview last week, he made comments that seemed to focus on specific betting like the outcome of a single pitch.
“These particular one-actions, one-event-in-the-game that bets are being placed on, a lot of money at stake, I just think they’re really susceptible to abuse,” he said to reporters after an unrelated event at the Ohio State Fair. “And this is something that we don’t need.”
A spokesman later clarified the governor is particularly focused on blocking bets on events that are both hyper-specific as well as undesirable to an honest player. So think about a bet on a pitcher to throw a ball, or on a quarterback to throw an interception, or on a free thrower to miss. Those, DeWine’s spokesman said, are especially ripe for abuse by unscrupulous actors or athletes.
Ohio, like most states, doesn’t require that sports books provide data on the prevalence of prop bets versus more traditional wagers such as who wins a game or an over-under on the final score. FanDuel and DraftKings declined to provide such data on request.
Pro leagues, who hold special sway, stay quiet
While political support for DeWine from the pro leagues isn’t a dealbreaker, state law requires the Ohio Casino Control Commission to give them special deference.
The OCCC, a panel of seven commissioners appointed by the governor, can independently or at the request of “any person, including a sports governing body,” adopt rules to restrict different kinds of bets.
But when the requests come from leagues themselves, the law requires a more robust consideration from the state with time for written arguments and hearings.
Signal Ohio asked the National Football League, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association and the Women’s National Basketball Association whether they’d back up the governor. None responded.
Emily Berner, an attorney for the OCCC, said no filings have yet been submitted to the regulators.
“The Commission works closely with Governor DeWine’s Office and the General Assembly in serving the citizens of Ohio and protecting the integrity of gaming in the State,” she said. “To that end, staff is gathering information for the Commission to consider. The Commission will announce its next steps in the upcoming days.”
In the past, the NCAA joined DeWine in pushing to ban player-specific prop bets for collegiate sports, citing threats to athletes, but the world has changed since then.
All six major professional leagues have entered partnerships with sportsbooks. For instance, the NBA named DraftKings as presenting partner of NBABet Stream, while FanDuel is the presenting partner of the weekly NBABet show on NBA TV. The NFL struck deals with four separate operators. Several teams and sports media outlets also partner with the sportsbooks, further enmeshing gambling into mainstream sports culture.
A league siding with DeWine could put it in the awkward position of lobbying against its business partner in a lucrative and highly regulated corner of state government.
However, earlier this month, DeWine, whose family owns a minor league baseball team, said he bumped into MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred at a baseball game and that the two are on the same page.
“I just talked with MLB Commissioner Manfred who told me he has always been against micro prop bets (for example – a bet on one pitch) and would remain so in the future,” DeWine posted on social media.
Sportsbooks, backed by a powerful lawmaker, criticize the move
Joe Maloney, a spokesman for the American Gaming Association, said eliminating prop bets from regulated markets won’t fix the root cause of any “recent integrity concerns.” Rather, it will only push gamblers into illegal markets.
“Prohibition doesn’t stop betting — it stops oversight,” Maloney said. “Illegal operators won’t honor bans, won’t partner with leagues, and won’t protect players or fans. The most effective path forward is education and deterrence: making sure every athlete knows the rules, understands the risks, and recognizes that if they compromise the game’s integrity, the legal market will catch it.”
The books have a powerful backer. House Finance Chair Brian Stewart, a central Ohio Republican, quickly took an adversarial stance against DeWine and said he would do all he could to stop DeWine from blocking prop bets.
The system works, he said. Investigators have identified a narrow and alleged instance of cheating, and the players in question have been suspended. So why end a whole genre of betting that people seem to like?
Plus, he said, the state has come to depend on the hundreds of millions in revenue that sports betting delivers. He estimates Ohio could lose as much as half of that if the state banned prop bets, though he declined to provide data to support that claim.
FanDuel and DraftKings didn’t respond to requests for data on the prevalence of prop betting in Ohio.
Sen. Nathan Manning, a North Ridgeville Republican who focuses on gambling policy, in an interview said he doesn’t support a total ban on prop betting in Ohio. However, he is open to some sort of limitation on bets on hyper-specific events with a “negative outcome” like an air-balled free throw or an interception.
“I don’t think a knee jerk reaction of all prop bets is good policy at this point,” he said.
Senate Finance Chairman Jerry Cirino didn’t respond to inquiries.
The governor versus the gamblers
House Bill 29, the legislation that legalized sports betting, passed with broad bipartisan support – more than enough to override any veto from the governor. DeWine signed it, but has moved aggressively against the major sportsbooks since then.
The OCCC has won nearly $1.3 million in penalties from sportsbooks via settlement agreements since betting launched in 2023. That includes:
- $500,000 from DraftKings in February 2023 after the company admitted to sending marketing materials to people under 21 and advertising bets as “free” even though gamblers risked real dollars
- $250,000 from Barstool in February 2023 for advertising from the University of Toledo (state law prevents operators from marketing on college campuses)
- $425,000 from DraftKings in November 2024 for accepting prop bets on collegiate sports despite the state ban and for accepting a deposit through an “unapproved method”
- $100,000 from Fanatics in April 2025 for a “failure to properly inform and communicate with a patron and the Commission concerning a wager cancellation request.”
In the wake of the earlier fines, DeWine managed to finagle into the state budget a hike on the industry’s gross receipts tax from 10% to 20%. He tried to double it once again earlier this year as a means to fund new stadiums in Ohio, though lawmakers rejected the idea.
DeWine was successful in his last attempt to get the OCCC to block player-specific prop bets, with backing from the NCAA.
“Amending rules to focus bets on the team and away from individual athlete will improve the marketplace in Ohio and properly focus betting attention on the teams and away from individual student athlete,” he said at the time.
And while not directly related to sports gaming, DeWine recently poured cold water on an increasingly popular idea among lawmakers to legalize iGaming – casino table games via phone.
“I’m not for it,” he said to WEWS last month. “Basically to put a casino in everybody’s hands, 24-7, I think is probably not a great idea and I think it will cause more pain and suffering in regards to addiction as far as gaming addiction so I’m just not for it.”
Andrew Tobias contributed reporting.