COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday called on the Ohio Casino Control Commission to eliminate proposition bets, or “prop bets” from the state’s list of legal sports wagers.
The request follows the MLB’s decision to place two Cleveland Guardians pitchers on paid leave amid a sports betting investigation.
In prop betting, bettors place money on specific players and their performance. That could include, for instance, the number of three-point shots a basketball player makes, or the number of yards quarterbacks passes for, or whether a pitcher will throw a ball or a strike to start an inning.
DeWine also said he plans to ask commissioners and players unions from the six major U.S. sports leagues to support a ban on prop betting. Those leagues include the MLB, NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL and Major League Soccer.
“The evidence that prop betting is harming athletics in Ohio is reaching critical mass,” DeWine said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “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.’ 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.”
DeWine is well familiar with the issues in baseball. The DeWine family purchased the minor league Asheville Tourists, a Houston Astros affiliate, more than a decade ago. Brian DeWine, one of the governor’s sons, is the president of the team.
On July 3, MLB announced that Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz had been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave through the All-Star break due to a league investigation.
That leave was later extended through Aug. 31. On July 28, MLB also placed Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase on paid leave through the end of August as part of a related investigation.
Media reports have linked the investigation to allegations of unusual prop betting activity in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio during Guardians games in June, according to a statement from DeWine.
Team President Chris Antonetti emphasized the ballclub is cooperating with MLB’s investigation.
Concerns about threats made against University of Dayton basketball players and other schools’ athletes prompted DeWine, a Republican, to seek changes to college sports betting in the state’s 2023 budget bill.
In February 2024, the Casino Control Commission enacted rules that removed collegiate prop bets from the list of legal wagers. The change followed a letter from NCAA President Charlie Baker. Under the new rules, bettors in Ohio can no longer place bets on individual player statistics or in-game achievements in college sports. Bets on final scores, outright winners, team point totals and point spreads remain legal.
The rules did not apply to professional sports, and prop bets on pro games are still permitted in Ohio.
AI was used in the drafting of this story.
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