COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - If Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine might reverse time, he would not have actually signed the law that legalized sports betting 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 says he now "absolutely" regrets unleashing this unbridled new industry 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 simply the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to promote and do everything they can to get somebody to place that bet is actually different once you have legalization of them."
His comments reflect a numeration that's unfolding throughout sports and politics as sports betting becomes more deep-rooted throughout much of the U.S. The wave of legalization in the last few years unleashed an enormous industry centered around wagering and, more recently, a wave of investigations and arrests tied to allegations of rigged video games. It's a vibrant that DeWine says he doesn't believe lawmakers fully expected.
"Ohio should not have done it," he stated.
DeWine just recently became an essential gamer in the negotiations in between Big league Baseball and its licensed video gaming operators that led to the capping of prop bets on individual pitches at $200 and excluding them from parlays. The deal was announced previously this month, a day after Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase were prosecuted and implicated of rigging pitches at the request of gamblers. Both have pleaded not guilty.
FILE - Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman, right, talks with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, left, during "Marty Brennaman Day" prior to a baseball game in between the New York Mets and the Cincinnati Reds, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean, File)
"Gov. DeWine really did a substantial service, I believe - to us, certainly, I can ´ t speak for any of the other sports - in regards to type of bringing forward the need to do something in this location," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters recently.
And DeWine does not prepare to stop there. Shortly after Ortiz and Clase were very first put on paid leave this summer season, he revealed he 'd be asking the commissioners and gamers' unions of all the significant U.S. sports leagues to ban prop bets - sometimes called micro-betting - like those linked in the Guardians scandal. While that objective has not yet been accomplished - micro-betting is crucial to business method in a market with over $11 billion in profits in the U.S. this year - DeWine said limitations put in location for baseball are a good primary step.
"It requires to be holistic, it requires to be universal," he told the AP. "They ´ re just playing with fire. I imply, they are just asking for more and more problem, 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 casinos, at racinos and at stand-alone wagering kiosks in bars, dining establishments and expert sports facilities. Wagering was allowed under the expense on expert sports teams, motor sports, Olympic events, golf, tennis and even major college sports, including Ohio State football.
It was clear in the run-up to DeWine ´ s re-election in 2022 that the gaming market was intensely interested in what was taking place in the state.
An AP investigation that year discovered that casino operators, slots makers, gaming innovation companies, sports interests or their lobbyists donated almost $1 million in 2021 and 2022 to the nonprofit Republican Governors Association, which supported pro-DeWine committees through its project arm. Entities and individuals with ties to the industry also contributed more than $22,000 straight to DeWine's project, according to campaign finance reports.
An evaluation of more current campaign filings finds that industry largesse has continued to stream to Ohio politicians with sway over video gaming's future.
Lobbyists and a PAC with ties to Jack Casino, DraftKings, FanDuel, MGM, Gamewise, Acid Rock, Underdog, Rush Street or Caesars have actually contributed about $130,000 to Ohio state lawmakers in the previous three years, records reveal - about a 3rd of that directed to leading House and Senate leaders. Then-Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who was placing 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 legislator, Republican House Finance Chairman Brian Stewart, had sworn to present legislation safeguarding prop bets prior to expert baseball's crackdown.
"I think that prop bets are a substantial 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 participated in and take pleasure in, and I wear ´ t believe there ´ s something that we should get rid of entirely."
Amid such pushback, DeWine and others now view voluntary buy-in from leagues, players' unions and sportsbooks as a superior technique 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 revealed it can be done.
"He ´ s utilizing the bully pulpit and he ´ s able to get in touch with the best people because way," Schuler said of DeWine. "Nobody believed that everyone could get on the very same page, now they did due to the fact that everybody understands the risk. The bets are small, but the risk is big, therefore, having observed gaming and controlled it for about 14 years, this is remarkable."
DeWine said his worry about sports betting began practically as soon as Ohio's law took result in 2023. Very rapidly, his office began getting reports that gamblers 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 guv of Massachusetts, and found out that he shared DeWine's concern. He got Baker to write a letter requesting the elimination of collegiate prop bets from the list of legal wagers that sportsbooks operating in Ohio might position, which allowed DeWine to usher the modification through the casino commission.
After the Guardians case emerged this summertime, DeWine approached Manfred with the exact same idea. They had not both been governors, but DeWine did have one cache entering: his household's veteran ownership of North Carolina's Asheville Tourists. DeWine stated Manfred asked him to hold off on pushing unilateral action in Ohio, in hopes of getting the celebrations to consent to a brand-new nationwide rule.
"I would have chosen to have actually totally eliminated the micro-prop bets, but this is the location that he was able to decide on with them, and I was pleased with that," DeWine stated. "Therefore, I think that ´ s progress."
DeWine, who faces term limits next year, stated he would more than happy to sign a repeal of Ohio's sports betting law at this point, but he's particular there's not sufficient support for that at the Ohio Statehouse.
"There's not the elect that. I can count," he said. "I ´ m not always right, however I can quite much guarantee you that they're not all set to do this.