Governor DeWine says legalizing this in Ohio is his ‘biggest mistake’
With only 230 days left as Ohio governor, Mike DeWine reflected on his time in office last week at a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum.
There, he discussed his endorsement for Vivek Ramaswamy, said he was going to make an announcement about Ohio’s death penalty soon, explained that he’s proud of his focus on Ohio’s children, and admitted that in 2021, he made his “biggest mistake.”
This huge mistake, he said, was signing the sports gambling bill into law.
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“What I did not anticipate — and I should have — is the massive, massive amount of money that these gambling companies would come in…and they flood the airways,” he said, as reported by Megan Henry at Ohio Capital Journal.
DeWine said that Ohioans are gambling and losing money, and athletes are being abused online as a result of this sports betting. The legislation he signed five years ago allowed adults 21 and older to place sports bets online, at casinos, at racinos and at stand-alone betting kiosks in bars, restaurants and professional sports facilities. Wagering was permitted under the bill as well.
But as soon as the law took effect in 2023, DeWine said his office began receiving reports that gamblers were threatening members of the University of Dayton basketball team.
An Associated Press investigation found that casino operators, slot machine makers, gaming tech companies, sports interests or their lobbyists donated $1 million in 2021 and 2022 to the nonprofit Republican Governors Association, which supported pro-DeWine committees through its campaign arm. AP found that entities with ties to the industry donated more than $22,000 directly to DeWine’s campaign.
“Ohio shouldn’t have done it,” DeWine told APNews.
APNews said that DeWine told them he would sign a repeal of Ohio’s sports betting law, but that he’s certain there’s not enough support for that at the Ohio Statehouse.
“There’s not the votes for that. I can count,” he told APNews. “I’m not always right, but I can pretty much guarantee you that they’re not ready to do this.”
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