The state of Ohio took a major step towards the legalization of sports betting as the House passed a related bill late last week. Now it has to go to the Senate where it would need support from lawmakers before the state opens its markets.

A timeline for sports betting

Republican Dave Greenspan and Democrat Brigid Kelly co-sponsored the House bill. According to Greenspan, they are looking at a market launch around March Madness i.e. the NCAA Mne’s basketball event of 2021. It is one of the most active betting events in the US.

The House passed the bill 83-10. The Senate has its own version of a bill which is similar to the House bill. However, the House bill wants the Ohio Lottery Commission to be in charge of sports betting in the state while the Senate bill proposes the Casino Control Commission to become the regulator.

Aiming to pass the bill in both chambers

Kelly said that the passage of the bill by the House “is especially timely because of the great need for more resources in schools.” Note that lawmakers will be on summer break between June and September. However, both Greenspan and Kelly aim to talk to legislators even through the break to find common grounds for both the Senate and House bills. They want to create a bill that both chambers will pass.

Greenspan said that his strategy will be aggressive and get the bills passed by September so that it could be sent to the Governor at the earliest. In a more realistic prediction, he said that the bill is expected to pass both chambers during November and December. Either way, the Lottery Commission will get enough time to create rules and implement sports betting in the state so they could have a market-ready by March.

Both online and mobile sports betting will be operational in the states. It will allow casinos as well as racinos to build new sports betting spaces. Veterans and fraternal halls will need to install equipment. The bill aims to tax sports betting revenues at 10%, of which the proceeds will go to funding education. The state expects its first revenue to be around $15 million which may eventually hit $50 million. According to the Legislative Service Commission, the taxes could generate as much as $17.7 million in 2022 and about $23 million in the future years.