Movement on an Ohio sports betting bill is picking up steam as a state senator announced a bill will be introduced on Thursday.

During his weekly appearance on Canton Morning News with Pam Cook on 1480 WHBC,  State Sen. Kirk Schuring (R) announced the 250 page bill will be formally introduced this week and put in front of the Ohio Select Committee on Gaming. Schuring also said he will hold a press conference on Thursday morning to discuss the finer details of the bill.

“It’s coming, and it’s coming soon,” Schuring said on Cook’s show.

 

Ohio sports betting is on its way

The bill won’t be perfect on introduction, he said, but will be used as a jumping off point for hearings and will hopefully answer some questions for interested parties in the state.

This information comes a week after Schuring’s fellow lawmaker, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-16), made an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show and expressed his optimism that sports betting was inevitable for Ohio.

“They’re working on it, it’s politics. There’s debate as to who should govern it, whether it should be the lottery commission or the gaming commission. I won’t weigh in to that, but as soon as they figure that out we’ll have it. Ohio’s going to get it done, it’s just a matter of when,” he said on the show.

Who will gain control of Ohio sports betting?

Schuring’s bill may answer the question of who in the state will have control over the sports betting program. Control of the program is being debated between two different state institutions. Ohio’s professional sports teams and leagues are in favor of a system that would have the sports betting program controlled by the Ohio Casino Control Commission, which allow sports betting licenses for Ohio’s four casinos, seven racinos and the state’s professional sports franchises. Each of these institutions would be eligible to apply for an in-person and online sports betting license.

This model is similar to ones currently used in New Jersey and Michigan, which offer gamblers a number of different skins to choose from.

A separate plan is for the Ohio Lottery Commission to implement the sports betting program. This would likely limit the amount of skins available for state gamblers, but would allow restaurants, bars and bowling alleys the ability to have sports betting kiosks in their facilities for customers to make sports bets.

This model is similar to one currently used in New Hampshire, which only offers one skin, DraftKings, to its state gamblers.