DeWine offers no real POV on election gambling question

While groups are sounding the alarm about betting tied to the upcoming election, Ohio’s governor has been more reserved in his response and didn’t seize the opportunity to take a firm stance.

Last month, Better Markets, Public Citizen, and 14 other organizations filed a comment letter with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, urging it to ban betting on elections.

“Americans are rightfully concerned about the impact of election gambling on free and fair elections in this country,” Ben Schiffrin, director of securities policy for Better Markets, said in a statement. “The CFTC should listen to the American people and ban gambling on elections in its final rule.

“There is no reason that the CFTC, which regulates the trading of financial derivatives, should sanction gambling of any kind, especially gambling that could threaten our treasured democracy,” Schiffrin added. “The states should continue to regulate gambling, and the CFTC should focus on its core mission: regulating the $500 trillion derivatives market.”

In April, the Ohio Casino Control Commission fined online prediction market Kalshi $5 million for operating illegally in the Buckeye State. Kalshi has sued, trying to prevent the state from enforcing gambling laws.

In March, a federal judge in Ohio ruled she was obligated to “avoid absurdity,” holding that Kalshi’s sports prediction markets amount to acts of gambling, NBC News reported. Therefore, they should fall under the state’s regulatory purview.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has been outspoken about gambling in the state. When asked whether the governor was concerned about betting on elections, a DeWine spokesman pointed to an ongoing lawsuit against one prediction market.

“The Casino Control Commission is involved in litigation against Kalshi stating that predictions markets are not legal in Ohio separate from gambling,” Dan Tierney said in an email to Ohio.News.

Meanwhile, last month, Ohio regulators said they were moving forward with a rule to forbid sports bettors from using credit cards to fund wagering accounts, a move supporters say could help reduce gambling-related financial harm.

The proposed rule change, being finalized by the Ohio Casino Control Commission, would remove credit cards as a permissible funding source for sports gaming accounts. The proposal still requires approval from the Common Sense Initiative Office and the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review before taking effect.

Under the proposed amendment, Ohio bettors would still be able to fund sports betting accounts through other approved payment methods.

Last year, DeWine called on the Ohio Casino Control Commission to eliminate proposition bets from the wagers gamblers can make in the state. The move followed an announcement from Major League Baseball that two Cleveland Guardians pitchers — Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase — were put on leave amid a “sports betting investigation.”