Ohio House of Representative rejects senate-approved sports betting tax increase
State budget negotiations yield deadlock as Governor-proposed measure is left out of latest version
A Senate-approved increase to Ohio’s sports betting tax rate to 20% from current levels has been rejected by the House of Representatives.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine proposed an extra 10% tax on sports betting operators in his February draft budget, despite the state going live with sports betting one month earlier.
The House of Representatives voted 78-19 to approve a different version of the budget in April that left out Governor DeWine’s proposed tax increase.
However, this month saw the Senate once again amend the House budget to include the 20% rate as part of its own inquiry into the legislation, approving the budget by a vote of 24-7 on June 15 with the floor debate making no reference to the tax rate increase.
A week later, the House of Representatives voted by a 3-1 margin to disagree with the Senate’s approved budget.
Ohio has generated over $449.2m in taxable revenue since the launch of sports betting in January 2023 and at its current 10% sports betting tax rate, has brought in $44.9m through its first four months.
Had the 20% tax increase been applicable, the figure would have doubled to $89.8m.
The approved budget for the fiscal year of 2023-24 is $85.8bn and any further changes will need to be signed off by June 30 in order to come into effect for the next fiscal year on July 1.