Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Signed A Law Legalizing Sports Betting. He

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - If Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine could turn back time, he would not have actually signed the law that legalized sports wagering in his state.


With two Cleveland Guardians pitchers and an Ohio-born guard for the Miami Heat snared in separate betting-related criminal probes, the second-term Republican states he now "absolutely" is sorry for releasing this unbridled brand-new industry on Ohioans with his 2021 signature.


"Look, we ´ ve constantly had betting, we ´ re constantly going to have gambling," DeWine informed The Associated Press last week. "But just the power of these business and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to market and do everything they can to get somebody to place that bet is truly various once you have legalization of them."


His remarks reflect a reckoning that's unfolding across sports and politics as sports wagering ends up being more deep-rooted across much of the U.S. The wave of legalization in the last few years released a massive market centered around wagering and, more just recently, a wave of investigations and arrests connected to accusations of rigged video games. It's a vibrant that DeWine states he doesn't believe lawmakers completely prepared for.


"Ohio should not have done it," he said.


DeWine recently emerged as an essential player in the negotiations between Big league Baseball and its authorized video gaming operators that resulted in the topping of prop bets on individual pitches at $200 and omitting them from parlays. The offer was announced earlier this month, a day after Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase were indicted and implicated of rigging pitches at the request of gamblers. Both have pleaded not guilty.


FILE - Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman, right, talks with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, left, throughout "Marty Brennaman Day" prior to a baseball video game in between the New York Mets and the Cincinnati Reds, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean, File)


"Gov. DeWine actually did a big service, I think - to us, definitely, I can ´ t promote any of the other sports - in terms of sort of bringing forward the need to do something in this location," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred informed press reporters recently.


And DeWine doesn't plan to stop there. Shortly after Ortiz and Clase were first put on paid leave this summer season, he announced he 'd be asking the and gamers' unions of all the significant U.S. sports leagues to ban prop bets - sometimes called micro-betting - like those linked in the Guardians scandal. While that goal has actually not yet been attained - micro-betting is vital to the business strategy in an industry with over $11 billion in profits in the U.S. this year - DeWine stated limitations put in place for baseball are an excellent initial step.


"It requires to be holistic, it requires to be universal," he informed the AP. "They ´ re simply playing with fire. I indicate, they are simply asking for a growing number of problem, their failure to address this."


DeWine's current beliefs mark a significant position shift after he vowed to - and then did - sign a legalization law that was sweeping in scope. The legislation permitted grownups 21 and older to put sports bets online, at gambling establishments, at racinos and at stand-alone wagering kiosks in bars, restaurants and expert sports centers. Wagering was allowed under the expense on professional sports groups, automobile racing, Olympic events, golf, tennis and even major college sports, including Ohio State football.


It was clear in the run-up to DeWine ´ s re-election in 2022 that the gambling market was intensely thinking about what was transpiring in the state.


An AP investigation that year found that gambling establishment operators, fruit machine makers, video gaming innovation business, sports interests or their lobbyists contributed nearly $1 million in 2021 and 2022 to the not-for-profit Republican Governors Association, which supported pro-DeWine committees through its project arm. Entities and people with ties to the market also contributed more than $22,000 straight to DeWine's campaign, according to project finance reports.


A review of more current project filings finds that industry largesse has actually continued to flow to Ohio political leaders with sway over gaming's future.


Lobbyists and a PAC with ties to Jack Casino, DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, Gamewise, Acid Rock, Underdog, Rush Street or Caesars have actually contributed about $130,000 to Ohio state lawmakers in the past 3 years, records reveal - about a 3rd of that directed to leading House and Senate leaders. Then-Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who was placing as DeWine's most likely gubernatorial follower, had actually received about $9,000 from industry-connected entities and individuals before being appointed to the U.S. Senate.


At least one powerful state lawmaker, Republican House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart, had actually promised to introduce legislation protecting prop bets prior to expert baseball's crackdown.


"I think that prop bets are a considerable part of sports betting in the state of Ohio," Stewart informed cleveland.com in August. "It ´ s something that plainly a lot of Ohioans have actually participated in and take pleasure in, and I put on ´ t believe there ´ s something that we must eliminate completely."


Amid such pushback, DeWine and others now view voluntary buy-in from leagues, gamers' unions and sportsbooks as an exceptional method to pursuing gambling constraints on a state-by-state basis, where the authority lies.


Matt Schuler, executive director of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, said the baseball offer DeWine assisted broker has actually shown it can be done.


"He ´ s utilizing the bully pulpit and he ´ s able to connect with the right people because method," Schuler said of DeWine. "Nobody believed that everyone might get on the same page, now they did due to the fact that everybody recognizes the threat. The bets are little, but the risk is huge, therefore, having observed video gaming and managed it for about 14 years, this is excellent."


DeWine stated his interest in sports betting began practically as quickly as Ohio's law worked in 2023. Very rapidly, his workplace started getting reports that gamblers were threatening members of the University of Dayton basketball group.


So he called NCAA President Charlie Baker, whom he knew from Baker's time as guv of Massachusetts, and found out that he shared DeWine's concern. He got Baker to compose a letter asking for the elimination of collegiate prop bets from the list of legal wagers that sportsbooks operating in Ohio could position, which enabled DeWine to usher the modification through the gambling establishment commission.


After the Guardians case emerged this summer, DeWine approached Manfred with the same idea. They had not both been guvs, but DeWine did have one cache going in: his household's long-time ownership of North Carolina's Asheville Tourists. DeWine said Manfred asked him to hold off on pushing unilateral action in Ohio, in hopes of getting the parties to accept a new nationwide guideline.


"I would have preferred to have entirely done away with the micro-prop bets, however this is the area that he was able to settle on with them, and I was pleased with that," DeWine said. "And so, I believe that ´ s progress."


DeWine, who faces term limits next year, stated he would more than happy to sign a repeal of Ohio's sports wagering law at this point, however he's specific there's not adequate assistance for that at the Ohio Statehouse.


"There's not the votes for that. I can count," he said. "I ´ m not always right, however I can basically guarantee you that they're not all set to do this."


Instead, he'll continue to make his case in other ways.


DeWine, a devoted baseball fan, especially of his hometown Cincinnati Reds, stated he thinks "these sports are having fun with dynamite here and the stability of the sports is at stake."


"So, you attempt to do what you can do, and you attempt and caution people, and try to take action like we made with collegiate, and you try do something about it like what we ´ re finishing with baseball," he said. "But we ´ ve got to keep pushing these other sports to do it, too."


AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum added to this report.


FILE - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, right, waits to give out checking out certificates to children before a Cleveland Guardians baseball video game against the Minnesota Twins in Cleveland, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Phil Long, File)