Pending proposals before Ohio lawmakers would expand online gambling in Ohio to include lottery games, poker, casino games, and wagering on horse racing.
Lawmakers hope the expansion will bring millions of additional dollars into the state’s coffers.
Ohio Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, introduced Senate Bill 197, which would authorize three new types of online gambling: internet gambling, online pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing, and internet lottery gaming, or iLottery. The bill had its first hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Select Committee on Gaming.
Statehouse News Bureau and The Columbus Dispatch also reported that Ohio House Finance Chair Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, is working on a bill to establish online gambling, or iGaming.
As they have nationwide, perspectives on gambling have shifted over the past decade in Ohio.
“I think there’s a different tone and tenor about some of these things than maybe there was ten years ago,” Statehouse News Bureau quoted Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, as saying. “I think a lot of times Ohioans want to have a little bit more choice as to how they spend their money and spend their recreational time.
“I think it’s something we’re going to talk about,” McColley added. “The House put kind of open-ended aspirational language in the budget. We’re having conversations with them as to what they actually meant by that. And so we’ll see where we end up.”
SB 197 would nix the State Racing Commission and transfer its responsibilities to the new Ohio Casino Control Commission starting in March 2026. It would also put the new commission in charge of regulating charitable gaming and sweepstakes starting in January 2027, removing the responsibility from the state attorney general.
The measure would also shift the licensing and regulation of video lottery terminals from the Ohio Lottery Commission to the new commission in March 2026. However, the operation of VLTs would remain under the lottery’s purview.
“In the next 5-10 years, the horse racing industry will likely continue in their struggle to remain a lucrative gaming sector,” Manning wrote in a July 2024 report from the Study Commission on the Future of Gaming in Ohio. “The General Assembly should continue to keep an eye on this industry, acknowledge its struggles, and look for solutions.
“Additionally, iLottery and iGaming was noteworthy topic of conversation,” Manning added. “Other states have shown that these online products are very popular to the consumer and they also bring in substantial revenue to the state. However, we must proceed with caution, as some of these products may need more vetting since they are more easily accessible to the consumer and could potentially have more addictive qualities.”
Ohio lawmakers approved pari-mutuel wagering on horse races in 1933, and the lottery launched its first game in 1974. In 2009, voters approved Issue 3, legalizing gambling at casinos in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo, the first of which opened in 2012.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine did not offer a position on SB 197.
State Reps. Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Westlake, and Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, introduced a measure to allocate any new money generated by expanding gambling to support K-12 public education, publicly funded childcare, and programs addressing problem gaming. According to a release announcing the legislation, Michigan collected $451.4 million in tax revenue from iGaming last year, and Pennsylvania collected $841 million from iGaming.
“If the state is going to legalize iGaming and in doing so create a new source of tax revenue, that money must go where it is needed most–our kids,” WOIO-TV/Cleveland 19 quoted Sweeney as saying. “Ohio’s children and families are suffering and they must be our first priority.”
However, not everyone in the state favors a potential gambling expansion. On its website, the Center for Christian Virtue said it “strongly opposes any effort to expand predatory gambling because of how these proposals exploit low-income Ohioans and hurt families.”
