TLDR
- Ohio Senate Bill 479 would ban betting on elections and political contests, including on Kalshi and Polymarket.
- State Senator Bill DeMora says the bill aims to protect public confidence in election results.
- If passed, Ohio would become the 33rd state to ban election betting.
- Kalshi is seeking a rehearing after a federal appeals court ruled Ohio can regulate prediction markets.
- Ohio regulators gave licensed gaming businesses until October 30 to stop working with prediction market operators.
Ohio lawmakers are taking another step against prediction markets. A new bill would ban betting on elections and other political contests in the state.
Senate Bill 479 was introduced this month by State Senator Bill DeMora. It would block wagers on election outcomes and apply the ban to prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
This is DeMora’s second attempt to regulate prediction markets. In April, he introduced Senate Bill 430, which focused on licensing and taxing sports prediction markets.
Ohio Lawmaker Cites Election Integrity
DeMora told NBC 4i that election integrity is the main reason for the bill. He said betting on political races could hurt public trust in results.
“Anything that is taking the reliability and people’s confidence away from election results is not a good thing, and I don’t think we should be betting on these outcomes,” he said.
If the bill passes, Ohio would join 32 other states that already ban election betting.
The election betting ban is part of a wider push to bring prediction markets under Ohio’s gambling laws. DeMora has argued that Kalshi and Polymarket should face the same licensing and tax rules as sportsbooks.
Licensed sports betting operators in Ohio pay entry fees between $50,000 and $2.5 million, depending on the license type. Annual renewal fees can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
DeMora warned that sportsbooks may try to rebrand as prediction markets to avoid taxes. “The regulated sports betters are going to say, ‘OK, I’m no longer sports betting. I’m now a predictive market,’ and they’re going to stop paying taxes at all,” he said. He added that this could hurt the state budget.
Courts and Regulators Weigh In
The bill comes as Kalshi seeks a rehearing in federal court. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio can regulate prediction markets under its gambling laws.
Governor Mike DeWine supports that position. He has said prediction markets are trying to avoid gambling rules even though they operate in a similar way.
Ohio regulators are also moving ahead with enforcement. Earlier this month, the Ohio Casino Control Commission sent cease-and-desist orders to 10 prediction market operators.
Those companies were told to stop offering sports event contracts to Ohio residents by October 16.
Last week, the commission ordered sports betting and fantasy sports licensees to stop providing services to prediction market operators offering sports event contracts in Ohio. The order also covers suppliers, testing labs, integrity monitoring firms, and other licensed businesses.
DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics all run regulated sportsbooks in Ohio. They also run prediction market businesses in other places.
Morrison, the commission’s interim executive director, warned that licensees supporting “unregulated and unlicensed gaming through prediction markets” may put their suitability at risk.
The deadline for licensed businesses to cut ties with prediction market operators is today, October 30. The commission has signaled that further action could follow against operators that keep serving the state.
