Several heavily populated states – and the nation’s third-most populated city – are set to advance measures that could mean new sports betting opportunities in some of America’s most high-profile wagering markets.
Ohio lawmakers near bill debate
After years of debate, Ohio lawmakers are set to finally advance a sports betting bill that could bring statewide mobile sports betting to the Buckeye State. Final details haven’t been released publicly as of Tuesday, but officials are likely to take up a bill that would allow statewide mobile wagering as well as retail sportsbooks at casino and possibly professional sports venues.
Though legal sports betting has widespread, bipartisan support in the legislature and in the state, lawmakers have not reached consensus despite years of legislative efforts. Elected officials are divided between which regulatory bodies will have control as well as how many licenses each facility will be eligible for, among other issues.
It appeared there may have been a political breakthrough earlier this year when the state Senate voted to insert – and pass – the sports wagering language into an unrelated voter identification bill, but the House voted against advancing the bill further. A bicameral committee of leaders from both parties have spent months work out the details, announcing earlier this month they had reached a breakthrough.
An identical bill still needs to pass both the House and Senate before it can be signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine, a vocal supporter of legal wagering, but this month’s announcement – and a meeting to vote on the bill scheduled for Wednesday – are good signs legal betting will come to Ohio. Though the first bets won’t likely come until 2022, another major legal market is nearing reality.
Maryland retail sportsbooks set to open
After a long delay of its own, Maryland is set to open its first retail sportsbooks by Thursday.
MGM National Harbor, and its BetMGM sportsbook, will have the honor as the state’s first legal retail betting option. Horseshoe Casino Baltimore (Caesars) and Live! Casino Maryland are set to follow Friday. Retail books at Ocean Downs Casino (TwinSpires) and Hollywood Casino Perryville (Barstool Sportsbook) are set to open by December’s end.
Though Maryland voters technically legalized sports betting via a November 2020 constitutional amendment ballot measure, it took officials more than a year to pass the enacting legislation to permit wagering as well as the ensuing regulations and certifications sportsbooks needed to start accepting wagers. Up to 12 more facilities, including Maryland’s three largest professional sports venues, can also open retail sportsbooks, but those won’t come until sometime in 2022.
Meanwhile, online sports betting could take another year. Maryland has one of the nation’s most complex regulatory structures, which has, in large part, bogged down the rollout of both retail and now online wagering. Though states including Arizona and Connecticut, both of which passed sports betting bills in 2021, are now taking both in-person and mobile wagers, Maryland is just now getting to its first in-casino sportsbooks and may not see online betting until late 2022 or even 2023.
Chicago considers stadium sportsbooks
Illinois could join Washington D.C., Arizona, Ohio and (eventually) Maryland among a growing number of in-stadium sportsbooks, but it is still waiting approval from the Chicago City Council.
Alderman met Tuesday to consider an ordinance that would allow five city sports venues (Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, Guaranteed Rate Field, Wintrust Arena and the United Center) to open in-stadium, retail sportsbooks if it chose to do so. Illinois state lawmakers had previously passed legislation that allowed certain venues in the state to open books, but in Chicago, ability to do so rests with the Council.
The issues has been devise, especially as Chicago nears the groundbreaking of a new full-scale resort casino within its city limits. In-stadium sportsbook proponents argue the casino is years away and the city should start generating sports betting revenue as soon as possible. Opponents worry these in-stadium facilities will take away from the future casino, and the sports betting revenue gained will not make up from the overall casino revenue lost.
Aldermen are considering an additional 2% tax on top of the 17% effective rate on gross gaming revenue Chicago retail sportsbooks would have to pay. That has been opposed by the sportsbooks operators, who say its too punitive on what’s already a low-margin industry, as well as other detractors who maintain the increased sports betting tax still won’t offset the money lost from players skipping the casino for the retail books.
At Tuesday’s meeting, officials called a recess to consider studies on the topic. It was unclear when the meeting would resume, but in the meantime in-stadium sportsbooks in one of the nation’s most high-profile cities hang in the balance.
