Mike DeWine might still be serving his tenure as Ohio Governor but it hasn’t stopped him from voicing what he considers the biggest mistake he’s made during seven years in office.
DeWine told a Wednesday meeting of the Cleveland.com editorial board that his worst move as governor was “signing a bill for sports gaming.”
DeWine’s second thoughts were because sports betting has become “a huge problem among young males up to 45” and that many of them were addicted and “spending money that they do not have.”
The Ohio Governor also took the blame for allowing gambling firms to market their products so well. DeWine stated when he signed the HB29 on December 23, 2021, he “didn’t count on the massive amount of advertising that these companies would do, first to get people to sign up for their app and to continue on.”
DeWine held up his phone and told the board that Ohioans don’t have to go to retail casinos: “They don’t have to go anyplace – they got it right here.”
we don’t know the outcome, and we think it’s legitimate”
The governor also took a shot at prop bets, stating that they were a “ticking time bomb” for the major leagues. DeWine said the reason sporting events are the most watched events on TV is because “we don’t know the outcome, and we think it’s legitimate.”
“If you start attacking that integrity and people thinking, ‘Maybe that pitch in the third inning was thrown because there was somebody who had a bet on it,’ the whole integrity of the sport goes away.”
