Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) is responding to the investigations into suspicious sports betting involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase.
DeWine, who was in office when Ohio legalized sports betting on Dec. 8, 2021, has called for an end to player prop betting. He released a statement on Thursday encouraging the Ohio Casino Control Commission (OCCC) to remove player props from the state’s catalog of available betting markets.
While numerous states have laws partially or completely banning prop bets on college players, no state has prohibited player prop bets on professional athletes.
Spurred by recent scandals
Both Ortiz and Clase were put on non-disciplinary leave by the Guardians last month after they were linked to suspicious betting patterns. According to integrity watchdogs, sportsbooks received an increased amount of activity on micro-bets involving the outcome of specific pitches within a game.
DeWine called on Ohio gaming regulators and players' unions of the six major sports leagues in America – the NFL, NBA, MLB, WNBA, NHL, and MLS – to support his effort to ban player prop betting.
“The evidence that prop betting is harming athletics in Ohio is reaching critical mass. First, there were threats on Ohio athletes, and now two high-profile Ohio professional athletes have been suspended by Major League Baseball as part of a sports betting investigation.
“The harm to athletes and the integrity of the game is clear, and the benefits are not worth the harm. The prop betting experiment in this country has failed badly. I call on the Casino Control Commission to correct this problem and remove all prop bets from the Ohio marketplace.”
DeWine in his statement also mentioned the situation involving Ortiz and Clase and said that micro-betting is problematic.
That opinion is shared by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who recently questioned the market’s validity as a betting option.
“Things where it’s one single act don’t affect the outcome necessarily, we should continue to think about that. Do we really need that last kind of bet?”
Player props and micro-betting under scrutiny
While the recent events involving the Guardians may have pushed DeWine over the edge, he insisted that his opposition to prop bets is longstanding.
He alluded to the increase in harassment and threats that were reported by the University of Dayton Men’s Basketball coach, Anthony Grant. That situation played a pivotal role in the OCCC banning college player prop bets in February 2024.
NCAA President Charlie Baker has also taken an opposing stance on player prop bets. He has spent the last couple of years working with state regulators to remove these types of wagers from sportsbooks across the country.
The only states that allow college player prop betting without any restrictions are: Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
As divisive as the issue has been, micro-betting has started to draw the same ire. New Jersey Assemblyman Dan Hutchison (D-4) recently introduced Assembly Bill 5971, which would prohibit sportsbooks from offering micro-bets, which are in-game bets, like wagering on what the next pitch will be or whether a football team will run or pass the ball on the next play.
“The pace of micro-betting is designed to keep people gambling constantly, making one impulsive bet after another with little time to think. This bill is a commonsense step to slow that cycle down and protect individuals from the financial and emotional harms that can come with excessive betting.”