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

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


With 2 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 "definitely" regrets unleashing this unbridled new market on Ohioans with his 2021 signature.


"Look, we ´ ve always had betting, we ´ re always going to have betting," DeWine informed The Associated Press recently. "But just the power of these business and the deep, deep, deep pockets they need to promote and do everything they can to get someone to put that bet is really different once you have legalization of them."


His remarks show a reckoning that's unfolding across sports and politics as sports wagering ends up being more deep-rooted throughout much of the U.S. The wave of legalization in current years unleashed a massive industry focused around wagering and, more recently, a wave of examinations and arrests tied to accusations of rigged games. It's a vibrant that DeWine states he does not think legislators completely expected.


"Ohio should not have actually done it," he stated.


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


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


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


And DeWine does not prepare to stop there. Shortly after Ortiz and Clase were first put on paid leave this summertime, he revealed he 'd be asking the commissioners and gamers' unions of all the major U.S. sports leagues to prohibit prop bets - often called micro-betting - like those linked in the Guardians scandal. While that goal has actually not yet been achieved - micro-betting is crucial to business method in a market with over $11 billion in profits in the U.S. this year - DeWine stated limits put in place for baseball are a great initial step.


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


DeWine's recent sentiments mark a significant position shift after he promised to - and after that did - sign a legalization law that was sweeping in scope. The legislation permitted grownups 21 and older to place 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 costs on professional sports teams, automobile racing, Olympic events, golf, tennis and even major college sports, consisting of Ohio State football.


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


An AP investigation that year found that gambling establishment operators, slots makers, gaming innovation business, sports interests or their lobbyists donated almost $1 million in 2021 and 2022 to the not-for-profit Republican Governors Association, which supported pro-DeWine committees through its campaign arm. Entities and people with ties to the industry likewise donated more than $22,000 directly to DeWine's project, according to campaign financing reports.


A review of more recent project filings discovers 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 contributed about $130,000 to Ohio state lawmakers in the previous three years, records reveal - about a 3rd of that directed to top House and Senate leaders. Then-Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who was positioning as DeWine's likely gubernatorial successor, had actually gotten about $9,000 from industry-connected entities and individuals before being designated to the U.S. Senate.


At least one powerful state legislator, Republican House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart, had vowed to introduce legislation safeguarding prop bets prior to professional baseball's crackdown.


"I believe that prop bets are a considerable part of sports wagering in the state of Ohio," Stewart told cleveland.com in August. "It ´ s something that plainly a lot of Ohioans have actually participated in and enjoy, and I put on ´ t believe there ´ s something that we need to remove entirely."


Amid such pushback, DeWine and others now see voluntary buy-in from leagues, unions and sportsbooks as a superior approach to pursuing betting 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 shown it can be done.


"He ´ s using the bully pulpit and he ´ s able to connect with the right people in that method," Schuler said of DeWine. "Nobody believed that everyone could get on the exact same page, and now they did because everyone understands the threat. The bets are small, however the risk is huge, therefore, having actually observed gaming and managed it for about 14 years, this is impressive."


DeWine stated his issues with sports betting began nearly as quickly as Ohio's law worked in 2023. Very rapidly, his workplace began receiving reports that bettors were threatening members of the University of Dayton basketball group.


So he contacted NCAA President Charlie Baker, whom he knew from Baker's time as governor of Massachusetts, and learned that he shared DeWine's issue. He got Baker to compose a letter requesting the removal of collegiate prop bets from the list of legal wagers that sportsbooks operating in Ohio might put, 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 concept. They hadn't both been governors, however DeWine did have one cache going in: his family's long-time ownership of North Carolina's Asheville Tourists. DeWine stated Manfred asked him to hold off on pressing unilateral action in Ohio, in hopes of getting the celebrations to accept a new national guideline.


"I would have chosen to have completely eliminated the micro-prop bets, however this is the location that he had the ability to choose with them, and I was pleased with that," DeWine said. "And so, I think that ´ s progress."


DeWine, who deals with term limitations next year, stated he would more than happy to sign a repeal of Ohio's sports wagering law at this moment, but he's certain there's insufficient support for that at the Ohio Statehouse.


"There's not the choose that. I can count," he stated. "I ´ m not constantly right, however I can practically guarantee you that they're not all set to do this."


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


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


"So, you try to do what you can do, and you attempt and alert people, and try to act like we did with college, and you attempt take action like what we ´ re making with baseball," he stated. "But we ´ ve got to keep pressing these other sports to do it, too."


AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum added to this report.


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