Ohio Governor Mike DeWine regrets legalizing sports betting

When the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for state-by-state legalized sports betting, the waters (and the money) flowed to most American states. The governor of one state that embraced wagering on sports wishes it hadn't.

Governor Mike DeWine recently told the Associated Press that he "absolutely" regrets the law that allowed sports betting in Ohio.

“Look, we’ve always had gambling, we’re always going to have gambling,” DeWine said. “But just the power of these companies and the deep, deep, deep pockets they have to advertise and do everything they can to get someone to place that bet is really different once you have legalization of them."

He's right. In the pre-2018 days, people who wanted to bet had to be willing to "break the law." They had to find a bookie. They had to, in some cases, tiptoe onto the wrong side of the tracks, where the consequences of losing big aren't bankruptcy but broken thumbs. Or worse.

DeWine said Ohio lawmakers didn't anticipate the consequences and ramifications of a world in which placing a beat is as easy as ordering an Uber.

“Ohio shouldn’t have done it,” DeWine said.

Recently, DeWine had a key role in recent limits placed on micro-betting in baseball, sparked by the rigged-pitch scandal involving two pitchers on the Cleveland Guardians. He wants more to be done.

"It needs to be holistic, it needs to be universal," DeWine said. "They’re just playing with fire. I mean, they are just asking for more and more trouble, their failure to address this."

DeWine said he would prefer a full ban on micro-prop bets, but that he welcomes the introduction of dollar-value and parlay limits in baseball as progress.

He'd like to sign a law repealing all sports betting in Ohio. DeWine is a realist.

“There’s not the votes for that," DeWine said. " I can count. I’m not always right, but I can pretty much guarantee you that they’re not ready to do this.”

Still, DeWine accurately believes that "these sports are playing with dynamite here and the integrity of the sports is at stake."

He'll settle for doing whatever he can. Warning consumers and pushing for other restrictions, in all sports.

It's still too early to assess the long-term consequences of blending the allure of easy money with the harsh reality that the billion-dollar sportsbooks make their money from those whose bets don't win. Put simply, the business wouldn't be booming if so many bets weren't busting.

While Ohio may not currently have the votes to scrap its gambling program, the wrong scandal at the wrong time could change the direction and strength of the political winds.

Of course, the sportsbooks would promptly dip into their winnings to lobby aggressively to keep the cash show squirting milk from the udder made up of the money of the many who wager and lose.