First Ohio iGaming Bill Filed During Legislative Session
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Ohio iGaming will at least have an introduced piece of legislation for state leaders to considers during the current legislative session.
Sen. Niraj Antani (R-6) yesterday introduced SB 312, a bill to legalize iGaming in the Buckeye State. Under his legislation, each of the state’s casinos or racinos will be eligible to apply for a license to offer the new form of online casino gaming.
Despite the introduction, iGaming legalization faces long odds in the state.
Details of Ohio iGaming Bill
Antani’s bill would allow each licensed state casino or racing to apply for an iGaming license and partner with up to one licensed iGaming operator. Online slots and table games would be taxed at a rate of 15%. His legislation establishes the Ohio Casino Control Commission as the regulator for online casino gaming in Ohio.
Casinos and iGaming operators would be eligible to apply for an internet casino gaming permit and internet casino gaming associate permit, respectively. Each license would be available for an initial $300,000 fee and an annual renewable fee of $250,000. A nonrefundable application fee of $100,000 will be required as well.
According to his bill, each licensed casino and iGaming operator will also be required to pay $250,000 annually into the problem casino gambling and addictions funds.
The legislation also sets the number of affiliate marketing licenses in the state at a maximum of five. Each affiliate will be required to pay $25,000 for a three-year license, with a $10,000 initial application fee.
However, opinions on iGaming legalization in the state are very split, according to a published iGaming study from earlier this year.
iGaming Study Shows Split Opinions
A 354-page study on the future of Ohio gaming, published this past July, saw its bipartisan participants split on support for iGaming and iLottery legalization in the Buckeye State.
The Study Commission on the Future of Gaming in Ohio was commissioned during the state’s 134th General Assembly and published the report following several months of public meetings. It consisted of three members of the House of Representatives, three from the Senate, the Chairperson of the State Lottery Commission, the Chairperson of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, and the chairperson of the State Racing Commissions.
Several participants in the study publicly shared their support for the legalization of iGaming in Ohio, no more so than three Republican House of Representatives members.
In a joint letter, Republican House Representatives Jay Edwards (R-94), Jeff LaRe (R-73), and Cindy Abrams (R-29) urged expansion of gaming through iGaming and iLottery legislation in the 2025 session.
“While we understand their hesitation to expand due to an uncertain impact, we believe that iLottery and iGaming could be a net benefit to the state of Ohio. Looking at other states who have implemented either or both iLottery and iGaming, we see significant increases to tax revenues generated with greater participation but also that in-person sales continued to increase. That can largely be contributed to more people participating in the market on their phones and becoming more comfortable/knowledgeable about doing it at a physical location. For example, Pennsylvania, which launched iLottery in 2018, saw an increase of almost 20% of sales in traditional retail stores,” the Representatives wrote.
However, its legalization also faced criticism in the study. Sen. William P. DeMora (D-25) said iGaming and iLottery legalization may cause undue harm to the existing industries. The state’s large network of corner stores, gas stations, bars, restaurants, and mom-and-pop business rely on the income from selling state lottery tickets, he explained.
“Additionally, Ohio has some of the premier casinos in the country, including Hollywood Casino-Columbus in my district. The casino gaming industry employs hundreds of people with good, union jobs. We cannot risk the position of these critical institutions by making them irrelevant, with Ohioans who want to gamble turning to their phones instead of supporting brick-and-mortar stores,” he wrote.
Sen. Al Landis (R-31) also called for the state to maintain the “status quo” and keep the current brick-and-mortar facilities in the state. The Senator also seemed hesitant to delve into legalized iGaming, preferring to resist expansion into “other forms of virtual gaming.”
Robert Linnehan
Covering regulatory developments in online gambling. Editing/writing/creating a newsletter for readers across all formats.
