Ohio to introduce sports betting bill this week
According to Senator Kirk Schuring, who backs the bill to legalise sports betting in Ohio, the regulation will be presented for discussion in the Senate.
US.- Ohio’s sports betting bill will be introduced this week, lawmakers have anticipated. Long-awaited legislation to regulate wagering in the state is being promoted by Senator Kirk Schuring, who led a committee to hold hearings from professional sports teams, casino companies and small businesses.
The committee was established with the sole task of formulating sports betting legislation. Ohio’s Governor Mike DeWine has said he expects a bill to pass this year.
Now, Senator Schuring has announced the bill will be introduced on Thursday, but the debate on how sports betting should be implemented and which institution should run it: the state lottery or the Ohio Casino Control Commission, remains open.
Early this week Schuring said: “I’m working very diligently on that, conferring with [Senate Majority Leader] Matt Huffman. It’s right now 250 pages, and I’ll be working on it again today, making some edits.”
He told the radio station WHBC: “And when we introduce it, we’re not saying it’s perfect, we’re saying, ‘OK, let’s have hearings, let’s have the interested parties come in. We want to make sure that it’s at least written correctly. And that’s what I’m working on today.”
Another point to be discussed is whether pro sports teams will receive a skin, whether they’ll have a monopoly on league data, and how many operators will be allowed to compete in the space.
Ohio sports teams have proposed they sublicence their own platforms to sports betting providers. The teams themselves would not be involved in the daily operations of the sports betting platforms.
While it is not yet decided who will regulate the activity, teams want the Ohio Casino Control Commission to be made the regulatory agency in charge of supervising the sports betting market. They want official data from the NFL and MLB to be used to settle bets.
