It has
always been his intention to allow mobile and online betting under any legal
sports gambling program in Ohio, Rep. Dave Greenspan (R-Westlake) said
Wednesday.
Speaking
with members of Internet gambling trade group iDEA Growth during an interested
party (IP) meeting on HB194 (Greenspan-Kelly) in the Riffe Center, Greenspan
said mobile betting is critical for persuading sports gamblers to play in the
legal market instead of continuing to use unregulated offshore websites.
Greenspan
invited Hannah News to attend and
cover the interested party meeting following a story on the group’s scheduled
meetings with Ohio officials. (See The
Hannah Report, 5/7/19.) iDEA Growth founder Jeff Ifrah did not attend, but
several other industry leaders including iDEA Growth’s John Pappas, Worldpay
Legal and Compliance Vice President Mark Hemmerle and DraftKings Government
Affairs Director Sarah Koch showed up to meet Greenspan and HB194 co-sponsor
Rep. Brigid Kelly (D-Cincinnati). Pappas said Ifrah was called to testify in
court today, but said he would be available to speak with lawmakers at a future
time.
Greenspan
recalled meeting with former House Speaker Ryan Smith (R-Gallipolis) and
current House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) regarding his work on
sports gambling, saying he told them, “Unless mobile is part of the bill, I’m
not interested in carrying it because it’s got to be a component.”
“We did
not, purposely, call it ‘mobile’ or ‘online’ -- yes the Wire Act did drive some
of that thought -- but we always used the word ‘devices’ in the bill … and we
have since expanded ‘devices’ to include ‘personal devices’ and ‘software’
under the definition of ‘sports gaming equipment,’” Greenspan said. “The way
the bill is formatted, it gives the Ohio Lottery Commission (OLC) … the
greatest flexibility to adapt to this changing industry without going back to
the Legislature.”
Greenspan
said OLC shouldn’t have to seek a law change from the General Assembly every
time a new game or a new method of sports gambling is introduced. He said a
personal device could be a smartphone, a tablet or a video game system.
“If
there is another device outside of mobile or online -- I’m not going to try to
guess what that may be -- it may be excluded from use as defined in the Senate bill.
So that’s why we went more broadly, and I understand there is some confusion,
but I’m telling you, from an ideological perspective, I always had in mind
offering mobile gaming,” Greenspan said.
It was
also important to include the state’s four casinos, seven racinos and the 1,275
veteran and fraternal organizations with a class D liquor license in HB194,
Greenspan said. He said each veteran and fraternal organization would be
allowed to have one piece of sports gambling equipment. Greenspan said the OLC
would have the authority to decide what kind of equipment exactly is
permissible in those venues. Greenspan said outside companies would be allowed
to partner with the veteran and fraternal organizations to offer a certain
brand of sportsbook.
Greenspan
also discussed his plan for OLC to be a central monitoring system for sports
gambling, saying sports leagues would have access to data on their own league. However,
for example, the NFL would not be allowed to gain access to data related to the
NBA.
Greenspan
took issue with some of the comments made by Ifrah regarding the Wire Act,
saying the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) revised interpretation of the
Wire Act does refer to the law’s applicability to sports gambling. Members of
the trade group said Ifrah was most likely referring to the DOJ’s most recent
filling in the litigation involving that reinterpretation, not the original
revised interpretation of the Wire Act.
DraftKings’
Koch said the industry has always understood that the Wire Act applies to
sports betting.
“So it
hasn’t changed anything for what we’re doing as far as compliance for sports
betting,” Koch said.