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Ohio’s push to roll back mobile sports betting has moved from proposal to formal legislation.
On July 1, 2026, Reps. Johnathan Newman (R-Troy) and Beth Lear (R-Galena) filed House Bill 971, the Save Ohio Sports Act, in the Ohio House of Representatives. The bill would effectively end mobile sports betting outside of casinos, ban prop bets on individual athletes, and prohibit all wagering on college sports.
What the Save Ohio Sports Act would change
Ohio’s HB 971 proposes a sweeping overhaul of Ohio’s four-year-old sports betting market. The bill’s key provisions include:
- Banning mobile bets. Mobile sportsbooks would be geofenced out of operation everywhere except Ohio’s four licensed casinos — in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo — and the lottery’s sports betting kiosks would be eliminated.
- Banning controversial bet types. Operators could no longer offer prop bets on individual players, parlays, or in-game live betting.
- Prohibiting college sports betting. All wagers on college sports would be banned statewide.
- Capping bets. Individual wagers would be limited to $100, and bettors would be capped at eight bets per day.
- Restricting funding sources. Operators could no longer accept credit card deposits.
- Banning promotions. Sportsbooks could not offer promotional bonuses or free bets.
- Restricting advertising. Sports betting ads would be barred from sports arenas and from airing during live broadcasts.
GOP lawmakers rally around child-safety framing
Newman and Lear are the bill’s formal lead sponsors, backed by roughly 10 Republican co-sponsors, including Reps. Jennifer Gross, Gary Click and Riordan McClain.
Click and McClain were the original public faces of the effort when it was unveiled in April alongside the Center for Christian Virtue, but Newman and Lear became the lead sponsors on the version formally filed in July.
Lear has framed the bill as a matter of protecting children from predatory gambling marketing, while Newman has argued that using gambling tax revenue to fund public education is the wrong trade-off for the state.
Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has not endorsed HB 971 directly but has previously said he regrets signing the 2021 law that legalized mobile sports betting in Ohio, and he has voiced support for banning player prop bets specifically.
Why an Ohio sports betting ban faces long odds
If enacted, Ohio would become the first state to repeal legal online sports betting since the 2018 collapse of the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which opened the door to nationwide legalization.
But the bill faces long odds. It has not yet been assigned to a House committee, meaning no hearings have been scheduled, and it would still need to clear both chambers of the Ohio General Assembly and receive DeWine’s signature before taking effect, according to Lower Bucks Times.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman has already signaled skepticism, saying he does not believe legislation is the right way to rein in mobile sports betting as long as leagues and sportsbooks continue to police themselves.
Ohio’s legislative calendar adds another obstacle: Any bill not approved by the end of an even-numbered year is considered dead and would have to be reintroduced from scratch in the next session, leaving a tight window to move HB 971 through both chambers.
A similar effort failed in Maryland last year. Senate Bill 1033, introduced in 2025, sought to eliminate online betting while preserving retail sportsbooks but never advanced past its first reading.
What’s at stake for Ohio’s betting tax revenue
Mobile wagering has driven the overwhelming majority of Ohio’s sports betting activity and tax revenue since the market launched in January 2023. Nothing changes for bettors or operators while the bill awaits committee assignment, and existing sports betting rules remain fully in effect for now.
The sports betting industry is expected to fight the bill aggressively, both through direct lobbying and through political spending aimed at unseating lawmakers viewed as hostile to the industry.
The Ohio-based American Conservative Fund, which is funded by sportsbook operators, has already spent roughly $1 million on ads opposing Republican lawmakers seen as unfriendly to sports betting, including Click during the bill’s early stages.
