Cranley: Bars, restaurants should have sports betting
Betting on a football or baseball game in Ohio wouldn’t be much different than playing the lottery under a plan proposed by Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley.
Ohioans should be able to walk into a local bar, restaurant or store and bet on a game, he said Thursday as he sat at his kitchen table in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood and unveiled his plan to the media.
“Sports bars throughout the state and small towns should also be able to make some additional revenue from sports betting when everyone gathers for Monday night football, or Thursday night football, or for Saturday college football,” Cranley said.
Cranley is challenging Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley for the Democratic nomination for governor.
Cranley called on the Ohio Lottery Commission to authorize sports betting throughout Ohio, allowing bars, restaurants and convenience stores to have sports betting. It would mean more money for schools, he said.
He railed against a current Republican-backed plan to give the power of licensing to the Ohio Casino Control Commission. This shouldn’t be the domain of casinos alone, he said.
This would hurt schools, Cranley said, particularly in small towns, by drawing away revenue from the Ohio Lottery. The lottery generates more than $1 billion a year for public schools.
“This will drive business away from small towns, small businesses, convenience stores and sports bars,” Cranley said. “Convenience stores And sports bars, under my plan, just like we have 10,000 licensed lottery salespeople throughout the state of Ohio, we would license those people who want to go to sports betting.”
A local Republican involved in the negotiations said Cranley is misinformed.
State Rep. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Green Township, said the schools will still get 98% of the tax revenue from sports gambling.
But he doesn’t think allowing sports betting to proliferate like the lottery is wise.
“You’ve got to have rules, licensure,” Seitz said. “You cannot have Tony Soprano running a sportsbook. That’s not in the best interest of the consumer.”
Republicans have two bills pending in the Ohio General Assembly to allow people to bet on sports.
Seitz said the legislature is poised to vote on the measure next week and deliver something for Gov, Mike Dewine to sign by the end of the year.
The Republican proposal would create up to 25 mobile licenses for the casinos and sports teams through which people could place bets on their phones. It would also allow for 40 brick-andmortar store licenses for sports gaming. This could be a casino, a betting window at a ballpark or other stadium or a standalone betting parlor.
Counties with 800,000 or more residents would be eligible for five brickand-mortar licenses. The number of places eligible dwindles with the population.
Bars and restaurants wouldn’t be excluded. There would be liquor licenses where bars could have two machines for people to place basic over/under bets.
Most of the money is in the mobile apps, Seitz said.
“Why would you go to a corner convenience market to place a bet on a machine when you can place the same bet over the telephone?” Seitz said.
The spokesperson for Whaley, Cranley’s opponent, released a statement expressing concerns with the proposals for the state to control sports betting.
“Nan believes that if we’re going to legalize sports betting, we must do it in a way that benefits Ohio communities and businesses, not out-of-state corporations,” Courtney Rice, Whaley’s spokesperson said in a statement. “Ohioans are sick and tired of sweetheart deals cooked up in backrooms. Our state government is too corrupt to be trusted with this much money without a much more transparent process than we’ve seen so far.”