CLEVELAND — As consumers, we're used to having accounts tied to our credit cards, and an Amazon purchase only requires a double click. Since their inception, sports betting apps have been no different, and in Ohio, using a card to fund your sports betting account has been an option, but it's now one the Casino Control Commission announced it wants to take off the table.
"I think there are a lot of arguments for it, I think on the part of the Casino Control Commission, it would probably focus more on the responsible gambling aspect," said Geoff Zochodne, senior news analyst for Covers.com. "Ensuring people are wagering with money that they have. You're ensuring that you have to kind of have cash on hand, so to speak, to make a bet."
And while this is an action the Commission is taking up on its own, over in the legislature, the idea is part of a bigger package of bills called the Save Ohio Sports Act. One is (the) Sports Integrity Bill, the other a Consumer Protection Bill that would place limits on wagers and their frequency while also eliminating the use of credit cards to fund the accounts.
"Which is something other states do have today," said Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue. "Which says you can't place these bets using a credit card. You'd have to use cash or an ACH card of existing funds so you're not racking up endless credit card debt on games that are stacked against you."
If you've had established sports betting accounts already and haven't needed to replenish your funds, you might not have noticed something. That's the fact that DraftKings, FanDuel and just last month, Caesars announced they will no longer accept credit card deposits.
"The industry is moving away from credit card funding even without state lawmakers or regulators doing so," Zochodne said. "DraftKings making the move after they got hit with a fine from Massachusetts, one of those states that already bans credit card wagering."
"On the part of the operators, there's probably a bit of simplicity to it for them where you don't have to worry, it's just one of those things where you don't have to worry anymore when it comes to that state-by-state patchwork of regulations. It's kind of nice and smooth to have a blanket ban instead," he said.
The Casino Control Commission will take written comments on the proposal through May 15, but Zochodne thinks the opposition will be minimal.
"There's probably not going to be a lot of pushback from the industry because the industry is already kind of moving in this direction," he said.
This move, along with the Save Ohio Sports Act, will apply only to the state's licensed sportsbooks, not to prediction markets that take wagers on a range of topics from politics to pop culture to sports.
Of course, this comes while prediction markets continue to operate unregulated in the state and would continue to be allowed to accept credit card deposits. Lawmakers say they can only fight the battles they can.
"I've never been one to say if we can't solve the whole problem, we don't solve any of the problem," said Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery). "We're going to solve what we can solve."
