It's no secret that online gambling has taken over the world of sports, but at least a few politicians are trying to fight back against this epidemic.
Three Republican lawmakers in Ohio held a press conference this Wednesday to propose restrictions for sports betting. They've come up with two bills that'll be introduced to the Ohio House.
"We do understand that people want some form of legalized sports gambling, we’re not removing that," Ohio representative Gary Click said, via Dayton Daily News. "But we also know that people want consumer protections; that they want to be protected from predatory advertisements and predatory gambling in Ohio, because the house always wins. We know that."
One of the main takeaway is these particular lawmakers want to place limits on how much Ohio residents can spend. They also want to prohibit the use of credit cards to fund bets.
“Do we really want, for the rest of our lives, to be watching every bad call from a ref and going, ‘Who’s in his ear? Who’s calling him? Who’s threatening his family?’ said Rep. Johnathan Newman. “Do we want that? That’s where we are right now, and we’re here to say we want to change that.”
Here are the other restrictions that were proposed:
- No online bets.
- Ban on in-game props and parlay bets.
- No sports betting ads during games.
We can't ignore the alarming trend for sports betting.
In October 2025, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was arrested after sportsbooks flagged betting interest in him during the 2022-23 season.
“Sportsbooks in multiple states flagged suspicious betting interest on Rozier’s statistics ahead of a Charlotte Hornets-New Orleans Pelicans game on March 23, 2023,” ESPN insider Shams Charania wrote. “An unexpected surge of bets — including 30 wagers in 46 minutes from a professional bettor totaling $13,759 — came in on the under on Rozier’s points, rebounds and assists, causing sportsbooks to halt betting on the veteran guard. Rozier, then with the Hornets, played just 10 minutes before leaving the game, citing a foot injury.”
As for college basketball, Fresno State and San Jose State had players permanently banned from the NCAA for violating sports gambling rules.
“The NCAA monitors over 22,000 contests every year and will continue to aggressively pursue competition integrity risks such as these,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “I am grateful for the NCAA enforcement team’s relentless work and for the schools’ cooperation in these matters. The rise of sports betting is creating more opportunity for athletes across sports to engage in this unacceptable behavior, and while legalized sports betting is here to stay, regulators and gaming companies can do more to reduce these integrity risks by eliminating prop bets and giving sports leagues a seat at the table when setting policies.”
We'll see if serious changes are made to sports betting between now and the fall.
