Ohio governor calls for sports betting changes after Major League Baseball investigation
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has called on the state’s gambling regulator, the Ohio Casino Control Commission, to remove proposition bets from the state’s list of legal sports wagers.
DeWine’s comments come in the wake of an Major League Baseball gambling investigation that has led to two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, being put on paid leave.
DeWine stressed concern over threats made to collegiate athletes at the University of Dayton regarding prop bets.
In a news release, the governor said he would contact the commissioners and players’ unions of the six major sports leagues in the country, including the MLB, NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, and MLS, to advocate for the ban on prop betting across all sports.
DeWine also noted that prop betting is causing significant damage. The governor named micro prop bets, a type of prop bet that is controlled by one player instead of having an overall outcome, as a particular problem.
“The evidence that prop betting is harming athletics in Ohio is reaching critical mass. First, there were threats on Ohio athletes, and now two high-profile Ohio professional athletes have been suspended by Major League Baseball as part of a ‘sports betting investigation,’ ” DeWine said.
“The harm to athletes and the integrity of the game is clear, and the benefits are not worth the harm. The prop betting experiment in this country has failed badly. I call on the Casino Control Commission to correct this problem and remove all prop bets from the Ohio marketplace.”
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Charlotte Capewell brings her passion for storytelling and expertise in writing, researching, and the gambling industry to every article she writes. Her specialties include the US gambling industry, regulator legislation, igaming, and more.
