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 legislated sports betting in his state.


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


"Look, we ´ ve always had gaming, we ´ re always going to have gambling," DeWine told The Associated Press recently. "But just the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to market and do everything they can to get someone to put that bet is truly various once you have legalization of them."


His remarks show a reckoning that's unfolding across sports and politics as sports wagering becomes more deep-rooted across much of the U.S. The wave of legalization in the last few years unleashed a massive industry centered around wagering and, more recently, a wave of investigations and arrests connected to accusations of rigged games. It's a vibrant that DeWine says he doesn't believe lawmakers totally prepared for.


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


DeWine recently became a key gamer in the negotiations in between Big league Baseball and its authorized video gaming operators that resulted in the topping of prop bets on specific pitches at $200 and excluding them from parlays. The offer was revealed previously this month, a day after Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase were indicted and accused of rigging pitches at the behest of gamblers. Both have pleaded not guilty.


FILE - Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman, right, talks to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, left, throughout "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 really did a huge service, I think - to us, definitely, I can ´ t speak for any of the other sports - in terms of kind of advancing the requirement to do something in this area," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred informed reporters last week.


And DeWine doesn't plan to stop there. Shortly after Ortiz and Clase were very first put on paid leave this summer season, he announced he 'd be asking the commissioners and gamers' unions of all the significant U.S. sports leagues to prohibit prop bets - sometimes called micro-betting - like those implicated in the Guardians scandal. While that objective has not yet been attained - micro-betting is critical to the organization technique in a market with over $11 billion in earnings in the U.S. this year - DeWine said limits put in location for baseball are an excellent primary step.


"It needs to be holistic, it requires to be universal," he informed the AP. "They ´ re simply playing with fire. I mean, they are just requesting more and more trouble, their failure to address this."


DeWine's recent beliefs mark a noteworthy position shift after he promised to - and then did - sign a legalization law that was sweeping in scope. The legislation enabled adults 21 and older to position sports bets online, at gambling establishments, at racinos and at stand-alone betting kiosks in bars, dining establishments and professional sports centers. Wagering was permitted under the bill on expert sports teams, motor sports, Olympic events, golf, tennis and even significant college sports, consisting of Ohio State football.


It was clear in the run-up to DeWine ´ s re-election in 2022 that the gaming industry was extremely interested in what was taking place in the state.


An AP investigation that year discovered that casino operators, slot machine makers, gaming innovation business, sports interests or their lobbyists contributed nearly $1 million in 2021 and 2022 to the nonprofit Republican Governors Association, which supported pro-DeWine committees through its campaign arm. Entities and people with ties to the industry also donated more than $22,000 directly to DeWine's campaign, according to campaign finance reports.


A review of more recent project filings discovers that industry largesse has continued to stream to Ohio political leaders with sway over video gaming's future.


Lobbyists and a PAC with ties to Jack Casino, DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, Gamewise, Hard Rock, Underdog, Rush Street or Caesars have contributed about $130,000 to Ohio state lawmakers in the previous 3 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 follower, had actually received about $9,000 from industry-connected entities and individuals before being designated to the U.S. Senate.


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


"I believe that prop bets are a significant part of sports betting in the state of Ohio," Stewart told cleveland.com in August. "It ´ s something that clearly a lot of Ohioans have actually taken part in and enjoy, and I put on ´ t believe there ´ s something that we need to get rid of totally."


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


Matt Schuler, executive director of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, stated the baseball deal DeWine helped broker has actually revealed it can be done.


"He ´ s utilizing the bully pulpit and he ´ s able to get in touch with the right individuals because method," Schuler stated of DeWine. "No one thought that everybody could get on the same page, now they did because everyone recognizes the threat. The bets are little, but the threat is huge, and so, having actually observed video gaming and regulated it for about 14 years, this is excellent."


DeWine said his interest in sports gambling began almost as quickly as Ohio's law worked in 2023. Very rapidly, his workplace started getting reports that bettors 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 governor of Massachusetts, and learned that he shared DeWine's issue. He got Baker to write a letter asking for the elimination of college prop bets from the list of legal wagers that sportsbooks operating in Ohio might put, which allowed DeWine to usher the modification through the casino commission.


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


"I would have chosen to have totally eliminated the micro-prop bets, but this is the location that he was able to pick with them, and I was pleased with that," DeWine stated. "Therefore, I believe that ´ s progress."


DeWine, who faces term limitations next year, said he would enjoy to sign a repeal of Ohio's sports betting law at this point, however he's specific there's insufficient assistance for that at the Ohio Statehouse.


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


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


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


"So, you attempt to do what you can do, and you attempt and warn people, and attempt to act like we did with collegiate, and you try take action like what we ´ re making with baseball," he stated. "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)