Save Ohio Sports Act: The Bill That Could End Online Betting

Ohio Republicans have introduced legislation that would roll back one of the most active legal sports betting markets in the United States. The Save Ohio Sports Act, announced on 8 April 2026 at the Ohio Statehouse, would ban all online and mobile sports wagering in the state and confine betting to just four physical casinos. It is a dramatic reversal. Ohio only launched legal sports betting in January 2023, and the market has grown rapidly ever since.

The bill was introduced by Reps. Riordan McClain, Gary Click, Johnathan Newman, and Kevin Ritter, all Republicans. It arrives with notable political weight behind it. Governor Mike DeWine has publicly called legalising sports betting his biggest regret and has confirmed he would sign a repeal bill if one reached his desk.

What the Save Ohio Sports Act Would Actually Do

The legislation comes as two separate bills. The first targets betting behaviour directly. It would cap every individual wager at $100, limit bettors to eight wagers in any 24-hour period, ban credit card deposits, and eliminate free bet and risk-free bet promotions. Parlays, in-game markets, and all college sports wagering would be prohibited outright.

The second bill goes further. It would ban all online and mobile sports betting entirely, leaving only in-person wagering at Ohio’s four licensed commercial casinos: Hollywood Casino Columbus, JACK Cleveland Casino, Hollywood Casino Toledo, and Hard Rock Cincinnati. Racinos, sports venue sportsbooks, and lottery kiosk locations would all close. FanDuel, DraftKings, and every other app-based operator would have no legal path to continue in Ohio.

Advertising restrictions are also part of the package. Sportsbooks would be barred from running ads during live professional sports broadcasts or inside stadiums and arenas.

The Numbers Make the Stakes Clear

The scale of what this bill proposes is hard to overstate. Online wagering accounted for 98.2% of all sports bets placed in Ohio in September 2025. Retail betting at physical locations represented less than 2% of total volume. The Save Ohio Sports Act would eliminate nearly that entire market in one move.

The tax consequences are equally stark. Ohio’s 20% levy on operator revenue generated more than $209 million in 2025. Online sportsbooks produced $205.1 million of that total. The four remaining casinos, each operating under a $100 wager cap and an eight-bet daily limit, would generate a fraction of that figure. The revenue currently funds K-12 education and problem gambling programmes across the state.

State Sen. Nathan Manning, who helped pass the original sports betting bill five years ago, was direct in his response. He called the proposal short-sighted legislation that removes personal liberty from Ohioans.

Why Legislators Say the Market Has Failed

Sponsors framed the Save Ohio Sports Act as a consumer protection and sports integrity measure. McClain told reporters that most bettors lose money over time, and that 24/7 mobile access has made impulsive gambling far too easy. Newman cited projections that Americans are on pace to lose $1 trillion in personal wealth to gambling before 2030, with Ohio residents losing approximately $1 billion last year alone.

DeWine has pointed to specific incidents that shaped his view. Two Cleveland Guardians pitchers were placed on leave by MLB in 2025 during an investigation into a pitch-outcome betting scheme. That scandal contributed to MLB capping individual pitch wagers and banning them from parlays. Ohio was also rocked by threats made against athletes over bet outcomes, a problem serious enough for the state to become the first in the US to allow permanent bans for anyone who harasses a player over a wager.

The Center for Christian Virtue, a Columbus-based advocacy group, backed the bill and helped shape its language.

The Black Market Problem Nobody Has Answered

Critics of the Save Ohio Sports Act point to a consequence the bill does not address: offshore betting. Industry advocates argue that banning apps will not stop Ohioans from wagering. It will push them toward unregulated sites that carry no consumer protections, no deposit limits, and no connection to state oversight.

This is not a hypothetical concern. It has played out in other markets where restrictions outpaced enforcement. Legal sportsbooks, whatever their flaws, operate within a regulated framework. Offshore platforms do not. Driving nearly all of Ohio’s betting volume underground would eliminate the very safeguards the bill claims to protect.

The legislation has also met resistance within the Republican Party itself. Some members have pushed back, and neither bill had been assigned to a committee as of the announcement date.

What Comes Next

No state has reversed a legal online sports betting market since PASPA was overturned in 2018. If the Save Ohio Sports Act passes, Ohio would be the first. That alone makes this legislation worth watching, regardless of how long the odds of full passage may be.

Hearings, committee assignments, and industry lobbying will shape what happens next. DraftKings and FanDuel, the two dominant operators in Ohio, would have every reason to fight hard against it. For now, the bill represents the most serious legislative challenge to a major US sports betting market in the modern era.