Ohio is moving to bar bettors from funding sportsbook accounts with credit cards, a change that would apply statewide if it clears the remaining regulatory steps. The proposal still needs review through the state’s Common Sense Initiative and approval from the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review before it can take effect.
According to RG.org, the Ohio Casino Control Commission confirmed this week that it is advancing the rule. The commission’s move adds another layer to a betting market that has drawn growing scrutiny since mobile sports betting launched in 2021.
One reason behind the push is the size of the market. Ohio has more than a dozen licensed online sportsbooks active, which makes it difficult to track a single bettor’s spending across accounts.
Derek Longmeier, executive director of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio, said the concern is that borrowed money can undermine safer gambling principles. “Bettors should stick to only spending money that you have,” he said.
The proposal arrives after years of political unease over Ohio’s sports-betting rollout. Mobile sports betting legislation passed in 2021 with 14 of 132 lawmakers voting against it, and Governor Mike DeWine has called signing the bill his biggest mistake.
That criticism has not been limited to the governor. A separate group of conservative lawmakers introduced legislation to ban online sports betting outright, though the effort was described as unlikely to gain much traction given the make-up of the current legislature.
Public-health concerns have also fed the debate. A 2022 survey found that one in five people in Ohio qualified as at-risk gamblers, and calls to the state’s problem-gambling hotline climbed notably in 2023.
If adopted, the credit-card restriction would put Ohio alongside roughly six other states that already limit credit-card use for sports betting, including Illinois and Tennessee.
