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SportsTranscript
00:00So generally what we see is a lot of these proposals for tax hikes, meaning that if the state regulators are taxing 20 percent or 30 percent, they want to increase to 40 or 50.
00:09But in the state of Ohio, they're not exactly doing that, but they are asking for a bigger cut.
00:15How are they trying to get this done?
00:18Yeah, Ohio has been an interesting state to follow in that sense this this year.
00:22I mean, to your point earlier this year, Governor Mike DeWine said, hey, let's double the tax rate in his proposed budget from 20 percent to 40 percent.
00:31And that's, of course, after in 2023, he went ahead and doubled it from the original 10 percent in legislation to 20 percent.
00:39And last year, people lawmakers said, well, that was a little premature.
00:42Let's not do that. And then he comes out this year to say, double it again.
00:46Lawmakers, of course, largely said, no, let's not do that and stripped it out of the budget.
00:50And so now you're kind of seeing different ways pop up.
00:54And this one is kind of a unique situation is you've got a proposed two percent tax rate on the handle overall handle.
01:03Generally, the tax rate is on the gross revenue from sportsbook operators.
01:08And that's generally, you know, between anywhere from, you know, 10 percent to 51 percent New York or, you know, all the states could put it at different rates.
01:17This two percent is interesting because there's only other one other market that taxes the handle.
01:24And of course, that's just what's bet, not what these sportsbooks are making.
01:27And that's Tennessee. And Tennessee has been an interesting market regulatorily to watch and see that.
01:34And what's interesting here, though, is if it's replacing, which isn't fully clear yet, the 20 percent revenue tax,
01:43it really doesn't bring in that much more money. It's about the same.
01:48If it's on top, it effectively doubles the overall taxes that the operators will pay.
01:54Interestingly, our Eric Ramsey, our analyst over at Legal Sports Report, has kind of dove into the numbers a little bit and was like,
02:01only a couple of operators.
02:04Yes, including FanDuel, because of the way they make the money on same same game parlays and the like.
02:11So it is an interesting way that the Ohio legislators may be looking to kind of increase their tax rate a little bit,
02:19ultimately, based on the governor's proposed tax increase not going through.
02:26Also being talked about in Ohio, and it may have a streamline to the finish line,
02:32possibly is an online casino bill, which kind of would also do the same thing of achieving a lot more tax revenue.
02:39And so, yeah, it's going to be interesting to kind of watch this.
02:43Of course, gaming is a, you know, very scrutinized subject in Ohio.
02:48You know, there was that report that I just mentioned last year that said, you know,
02:53online casino would be a good way to bring in more revenue.
02:55The sports betting tax rate was premature.
02:59So there's all sorts of things to be talked about.
03:01So I'll keep an eye on it, of course, and keep you informed, Craig, on what's happening in Ohio.
03:05So I'll keep an eye on it.