An increasing number of legislators in Ohio are supporting online casino gambling.
This week, Representatives Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) and Marilyn John (R-Richland) introduced House Bill 298, a measure to permit online casino games, such as internet slots and interactive table games. The legislation would also encompass online poker.
"We already have online gambling in other forms,” John said regarding Ohio’s online sports betting market. “[iGaming] is a job creator — job creation in technological development.”
Stewart estimates that Ohio might generate $400 million to $800 million annually in new tax revenues from a developed iGaming market.
HB298 would also ban online sweepstakes platforms from functioning in Ohio. Disputed websites and applications that numerous critics claim represent unlawful, unregulated online gambling persist in facing legal examination in the Buckeye State.
HB298 is in line with an iGaming proposal that was put forward in the Ohio Senate the previous week. Senate Bill 197 aims to permit the Ohio Lottery to conduct instant games via the internet.
Stewart and John suggested enabling each casino operator with a physical gaming license to apply for an iGaming permit. Ohio’s four casinos and seven racinos, which can only host video lottery terminals and sports betting — excluding live-dealer table games — would be eligible for an online casino skin.
Participation in the state's iGaming market would require significant investment, with each iGaming license priced at $50 million initially and subject to a $10 million renewal fee every five years.
Online casinos would be liable for a 28% state tax on their gross gaming revenue. Nearly all — 99% — of the iGaming taxes will be allocated to the state's General Fund. Only 1% would be designated for programs addressing problem gambling.
HB298 would permit a reduced, more restricted iGaming landscape. Besides not permitting iLottery, Stewart and John wouldn’t permit online parimutuel betting as SB197 would.
With iGaming legislation presented in both houses of the Ohio Legislature, Stewart and John indicate they will collaborate with Sen. Nathan Manning (R-Ridgeville), the primary sponsor of SB197, to develop a compromise for online casinos.
Jack Entertainment, Ohio's oldest casino operator, which runs Jack Cleveland casino and Jack Thistledown racino, is against online gambling. Churchill Downs, owning a 50% share in Miami Valley Gaming, a racino, typically does as well.
MGM Resorts, Boyd Gaming, and Penn Entertainment, which are also involved in Ohio, have largely backed iGaming in states where it has been proposed.
John rejected Jack’s earlier claims that online casinos take customers away from brick-and-mortar casinos, where patrons also spend on meals and beverages and retain more staff than an online casino does. John thinks that iGaming only expands the “consumer base” of bettors and enables those “who favor an online option” to wager in a controlled, taxed framework.
Other critics of iGaming highlight worries about addiction. State Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) argues that placing casinos in the hands of Ohioans would heighten the risk of gambling addiction and the numerous social issues that accompany it.
“What we’d be saying with this bill is that it’s worth it to have thousands — if not tens of thousands — of people at increased risk of suicide,” Isaacsohn opined.
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