Ohio Could Become the Most Restrictive Legal Sports Betting State in the Country

If a group of Ohio lawmakers gets their way, sports betting in the Buckeye State is about to look almost unrecognizable. Legislators introduced the “Save Ohio Sports Act” this week — a two-bill package that would strip away most of what makes modern sports betting convenient, and leave Ohio with one of the most tightly controlled gambling environments in the entire country. If you are currently betting with DraftKings, FanDuel, or any other app in Ohio, pay attention.

What the Save Ohio Sports Act Would Actually Do

The legislation, introduced April 8, 2026 by Republican state representatives Gary Click, Riordan McClain, Jonathan Newman, and Kevin Ritter, is structured as two separate bills. Together, they would fundamentally dismantle the sports betting framework Ohio has operated under since January 2023. The first bill targets access and wager limits. The second targets specific bet types linked to what lawmakers describe as game manipulation and addiction risk. The overarching goal, according to sponsors, is to rein in what they call the unchecked dangers of mobile betting — citing gambling addiction rates that have reportedly jumped 25 to 30 percent since Ohio launched online sports betting.

No More Parlays, No More Live Betting — Gone

The second bill in the package is where recreational bettors will feel the sharpest cuts. Parlay wagers — where you chain multiple picks together for a bigger potential payout — would be completely prohibited. In-game betting, which lets you wager on live action as a game unfolds, would also be banned entirely. Prop bets, already restricted for college athletes in Ohio since 2024, would be wiped out across the board. So would all betting on college sports, period.

To put that in context: parlays and live betting are two of the most popular product categories at every major sportsbook. They drive a massive share of handle. For the casual bettor who throws down a four-leg parlay on NFL Sunday or hammers a live moneyline when a favorite falls behind, those options simply would not exist under this framework. What you would be left with is single-game, pre-match wagers on professional sports — a stripped-down product that looks more like what sports betting resembled a decade ago.

$100 Max Bets and Casinos Only — No More Apps

The first bill goes even further on access. Online sports betting would be eliminated entirely. That means no DraftKings app, no FanDuel, no BetMGM, no Caesars. To place a legal sports bet in Ohio, you would have to drive to one of the state’s four commercial casinos in person. Not the racinos. Not the bar or restaurant kiosk down the street. Only the four brick-and-mortar casinos.

Consider how dramatic that shift would be. According to September 2025 data, online handle represented 98.2 percent of all sports betting activity in Ohio. Retail betting — in-person wagering — accounted for just 1.8 percent. Essentially, the bill proposes moving the entire Ohio sports betting market into a 1.8 percent sliver and calling it a day. Beyond the access restrictions, individual bets would be capped at $100, and bettors would be limited to eight wagers in any 24-hour period. Credit cards would be prohibited as a funding method, and sportsbook promotional offers — the welcome bonuses and odds boosts that new bettors rely on — would be banned outright.

How Ohio Would Compare to Every Other State

No other legal sports betting state in the country currently operates under restrictions anything close to this severe. Most states with legal sports betting offer robust mobile platforms, parlays, live betting, and in-game props as standard features. Even states that limit retail-only betting — like Montana, which uses a state-run system — do not stack on top of that a $100 bet cap, a daily wager limit, and a parlay ban all at once. Ohio, if this bill passed, would not just be the most restrictive legal sports betting state — it would be in a category of its own. The only real competition for that title might be states where sports betting is not legal at all, and even there, bettors can at least access offshore apps without state-mandated product limitations.

What Happens Next — and What to Watch

The bills are still being drafted and have not yet been formally introduced for a floor vote. Legislative leaders in Ohio have signaled more appetite for targeted restrictions — banning credit card use, tightening advertising — than for the sweeping online ban. That is a meaningful distinction. Even the bill’s own sponsors acknowledge that enforcing an online betting ban would be extraordinarily difficult; Representative McClain compared it to Ohio’s failed attempts to restrict social media and online pornography.

Governor Mike DeWine, who signed Ohio sports betting into law in 2021 and has since expressed regret about it, has said he would sign a repeal if one landed on his desk. That political cover matters. But Ohio generated $209.1 million in sports betting tax revenue in 2025 alone, and stripping out online betting, parlays, and college sports would gut that number significantly — a real obstacle to passing anything this aggressive. One notable wrinkle: prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket would not be affected by this legislation, which means Ohio bettors could potentially shift to those platforms entirely if traditional sportsbooks go dark.

Watch for committee hearings and formal bill text to drop in the coming weeks. If this moves forward, it will be the most significant rollback of legal sports betting access since the post-PASPA era began.