Online gambling creates social costs — and most of the revenue leaves Ohio • Ohio Capital Journal

As social harms mount, a group of Republican lawmakers in Ohio is working to limit the state’s sports-betting businesses. 

As they do, news comes that most of the money being generated flows out of state. And that’s before you count the social costs inflicted.

Ohio legalized online sports betting in 2021 after the U.S. Supreme Court gave the go-ahead in 2018. 

Since then, there have been accusations that it’s corrupted big-time sports. Two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians are charged with throwing wild pitches to rig bets. 

In addition, the number of Ohioans seeking help for problem gambling is way up, sports betting has been linked to increased crime and more suicides.

The UCLA Anderson School of Management in April reported that entire states’ average credit scores took a hit when sports betting was legalized.

That’s not just the average credit scores of gamblers, but of everybody in the state.

The problems have gotten bad enough that Gov. Mike DeWine in November said he regrets ever signing Ohio’s sports-betting law.

Last week, three Republican lawmakers announced legislation intended to mitigate some of the worst harms done by the state’s sports-betting businesses.

State Reps. Riordan McClain, R-Upper Sandusky, Gary Click, R-Vickery, and Johnathan Newman, R-Troy, called a press conference and said sports betting was a loser for the average Ohioan.

“The fact is that most betters do not win,” McClain said.

He said only about 5% of sports betters actually make money over the long term.

It appears to also be a losing proposition for the state as a whole.

The Center for Addiction Science, Policy and Research’s Online Gambling Research Center in February estimated revenue flows for every state that allows online gambling. 

It found that in 2025, online gambling generated $888 million more for gambling companies in Ohio than they paid out to bettors — and after the $178 million they paid in taxes.

Of that revenue, $533 million flowed out of state, while just $355 million stayed in Ohio.

Ohio Republican lawmakers proposed major new sports betting restrictions

The 40% share of the revenue that stayed in Ohio was less than in 10 other states, but more than in 19.

The $178 million in taxes and the $355 million in gambling revenue that stayed in state sounds like a lot of money. 

But a 2023 study estimated that in New Jersey, online gambling created $350 million in annual social costs.

Ohio’s population is about a quarter bigger than that of New Jersey.

So if the 2023 study is correct, Ohio’s social costs would be about $438 million.

That’s 2.5 times the taxes collected, and 1.2 times the business revenue that stays in the state. 

The bill announced last week would limit the frequency and size of bets, the marketing practices of gambling companies, and it would prohibit putting bets on credit cards. But its sponsors conceded that it faces a difficult road to passage.

Aaron Baer leads the Center for Christian Virtue. He said Republicans and Democrats should support the bill because both can see the “exploitative nature of the gaming industry.” The human cost and the economics make it hard to justify, he said.

“Americans are projected to lose $1 trillion in personal wealth to gambling by 2030,” Baer said in an email.

“In Ohio alone, about $1 billion in personal wealth was lost last year. Even more staggering is that 81% of people with a gambling addiction experience suicidal ideation and 31% attempt suicide. Given these numbers, I don’t see how anyone could possibly argue that the ‘economic benefits’ of sports gambling outweigh the catastrophic financial, mental, and social consequences.”