Mike DeWine said on Wednesday that signing legislation to legalise sports betting in Ohio was the biggest mistake of his seven years as governor, citing addiction risks, heavy advertising, and concerns about the integrity of professional sports.
“People have asked me, ‘What mistakes did you make?’ And I’ll lead with signing a bill for sports gaming,” DeWine said during a meeting with the editorial board of cleveland.com.
Ohio legalized sports gambling in December 2021, with wagering launching statewide in January 2023. Since then, betting activity has surged, with Ohioans wagering $7.7 billion in 2023 and nearly $8.9 billion in 2024, figures DeWine said were fuelled by extensive advertising by gambling companies.
“It’s a huge problem among young males up to 45. It’s a huge problem,” DeWine said. “And we have many of them addicted, many of them spending money that they do not have.”
The governor said the state has spent several million dollars helping residents with sports betting problems and acknowledged he underestimated the impact of advertising and the ease of access through mobile apps. “They don’t have to go to a casino. They don’t have to go anyplace – they got it right here,” he said, referring to smartphones.
DeWine said the fallout from sports gambling has extended beyond bettors to the games themselves, pointing to threats made against University of Dayton players, federal indictments of two Cleveland Guardians pitchers on pitch-rigging charges, and FBI arrests of current and former National Basketball Association players on gambling-related allegations.
“There’s a reason that the most-watched things on TV every year are sporting events. The reason they are is we don’t know the outcome, and we think it’s legitimate,” DeWine said. “If you start attacking that integrity and get people thinking, ‘Maybe that pitch in the third inning was thrown because there was somebody who had a bet on it,’ the whole integrity of the sport goes away.”
The Republican governor initially called for a statewide ban on proposition, or “prop,” bets. After discussions with Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, he accepted a league-led approach that restricts betting on individual pitches and caps certain “microprop” wagers at $200.
“That’s not exactly where I wanted to end up,” DeWine said, but added it was “not a bad compromise,” arguing that larger bets pose the greatest risk.
DeWine said he is pressing the National Football League and other leagues to adopt similar safeguards, calling gambling a “ticking time bomb” for professional sports. He added he would still sign legislation banning prop bets in Ohio if it reached his desk.
Ohio lawmakers, however, have shown little indication they are prepared to impose new sports betting restrictions before DeWine leaves office early next year.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/01/30/117383-ohio-governor-mike-dewine-calls-sports-betting-law-his-biggest-mistake
