Ohio’s online casino bill ties bonuses to land-based casinos and racinos as lawmakers chase $400 million a year

Ohio’s online casino push has mostly stalled, but a new draft could still get enough support to reach Gov. Mike DeWine. The catch is that the proposal is built to funnel iGaming promotions toward the state’s existing casinos and racinos, which is the kind of structure PSPs and operators watch closely when a market is trying to open without cannibalizing its land-based side.

1. State Rep. Brian Stewart outlined the plan during an iDevelopment and Economic Association panel on Friday. The draft law would create an iGaming market, but promotions by online operators would have to drive traffic to physical venues in Ohio rather than follow the standard online-casino bonus playbook.
2. Stewart says the future online casino market should be limited to the state’s existing racinos and casinos. His argument is that these properties have already disbursed millions to support local economies and communities, so the new framework should channel value back into the same ecosystem.
3. He also framed the proposal as a political and commercial compromise. In his view, it reduces conflict between interest groups from the start, which could help break the deadlock that has kept Ohio’s online casino bill from moving for months.
4. The financial pitch is simple: Stewart says Ohio could pull in as much as $400 million annually from online casinos. That matters because, on paper, online casinos are usually the most tax-rich gambling vertical, with stronger spend and more consistent revenue than many other categories.
5. Ohio has already collected $600 million in tax from sports betting since launch on January 1, 2023. Responsible gambling advocates, including Derek Longmeier of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio, have warned that the start of the NFL season could increase harmful gambling behavior, and the removal of direct bonuses is being presented as one way to reduce that pressure.

For high-risk operators and their payment partners, the important detail is not just whether Ohio legalizes iGaming, but how tightly the state tries to control acquisition. A model that forces promos toward land-based properties is a very different commercial structure from the usual online-casino setup, and that difference starts showing up fast in traffic flows, conversion design, and payment economics.