Days of Whine and Grosses

Let’s make one thing clear: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) isn’t a bad guy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, he stood firm for science at a time when quackery and superstition dominated the public discourse. However, when it comes to sports betting, he’s got some odd policy ideas. Right now, DeWine is taking his final bows before leaving office and the farewell tour has one recurring theme. Namely, that where OSB is concerned, DeWine is in serious danger of becoming DeWhine.

The governor can’t give an interview anymore without bending your ear about the evils of sports wagering—which he signed into law. Now he says it was his biggest mistake and won’t stop with the mea culpas. Look, it’s refreshing and admirable when a politician admits to making what he or she thinks was a mistake. We wish more people in public life had the stones to do it. But DeWine is sailing dangerously close to the ideology whereby people shouldn’t be given choices because they will inevitably make bad ones. That’s paternalistic, fundamentalist Christian bullshit and DeWine is starting to spout it.

Are calls to problem-gambling lines in the Buckeye State up since OSB was legalized? Undoubtedly. When one goes from zero to 60 in terms of what forms of gambling are available, that is a near-unavoidable consequence. Does that mean sports betting should be illegal again? Absolutely not. Just think of the professional-sports betting scandals have been detected right there in Ohio, where a legal framework exists wherein irregular action can be spotted. If it weren’t lawful sports betting, for instance, would two Cleveland Guardians pitchers have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar? Not bloody likely.

DeWine himself has been all over the map on wagering. After signing it into law, he had governor’s remorse and persuaded the Lege to double the tax rate on it. He was fine with OSB up to that point. Then, early last year, he tried to get the Lege to gin the tax up yet again. His rationale? The previous tax hike wasn’t working because people weren’t betting less. If the purpose of a tax is to club people into doing something less, it’s (at best) perverse. Besides, if DeWIne had really wanted to discourage wagering, he’d have taxed handle rather than revenue. That wonderfully counterproductive exercise is currently playing out in Illinois. There, Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) shot the state budget in the foot with his greedy handle tax. It is driving people away from legal OSB in droves and into the arms (we strongly suspect) of unlawful bookies, who pay zero taxes.

At the risk of beating a deceased equine, DeWine is advocating a cure—going back into the closet with Lefty—that is worse than the disease. We agree with him, though, on one partial solution. Banning certain types of prop bets would be a substantial curb on the corruption that is presently leaching into professional and amateur sports. We’d even go further than the watery compromise the governor is presently peddling. Now, if DeWine would get comparably het up about prediction markets, which are wholly unregulated and wide-open for abuse, we’d be all for it. How about it, guv?

Speaking of OSB, punters in Missouri weren’t very smart out of the gate. In its first month of legal wagering, the Show-Me State saw books hold 19%. That’s insanely tight. Nobody’s ventured an explanation yet but it seems as though exuberance outdid know-how. Bettors may have had the last laugh, though. Books spent $125 million in promos to make $103.5 million in revenue (Circa Sports being the lone holdout). Really bad bettors flocked to Bet365, which held at an unbelievable 31.5%, while Caesars Sportsbook (15%) grossed more than BetMGM despite seeing far less action. At least the latter, along with theScore, raked in more than they forked over in promos. Everyone else lost money in December, even frontrunners FanDuel and DraftKings. We can’t wait to see the January numbers and whether the books’ extraordinary luck held out.

Down in Dixie, the Palmetto State had a chance to steal a march on Georgia and play catch-up with North Carolina. A casino megaresort was pitched for the I-95 corridor and sailed through the state senate this legislature. However, the lower house has reached for the chicken switch. What’s lost as a consequence is at least $35 million that would go toward conservation projects in South Carolina. Gov. Henry McMaster (R) is such a prude that the state won’t even widen horse racing, despite whatever dollars are to be made. By the time he’s out of office and the Lege wises up, it will probably be too late. Billion-dollar Two Kings Casino, near Charlotte, is fast approaching completion. Also, the Lumbee Tribe is wasting no time getting on the gravy train by buying land for a casino along I-95. At least sponsors of the Orangeburg project can take comfort that the Georgia Lege is so maladroit it will almost certainly botch sports betting (again) this session and is too timid to even think about casinos. And so, Dixie continues to stampede proudly into the 19th century.

We’d love to end on some good news but there’s precious little to be had this weekend. Except maybe this …

Gridiron Grumbles: It looks as though, in their coaching search, the Las Vegas Raiders did a couple of somethings right by not bothering with New York Jets castoff Robert Saleh and New York Giants reject Brian F. Daboll. Those two losers wound up with the Tennessee Titans, who know a lot about losing of late and are probably going to get intimately familiar with it going forward. Saleh’s record as a head coach is a resoundingly mediocre 20-36 (and we’re generous to call that “mediocre”), while Daboll went 20-40-1, great if you like winning one game out of every three.

Titans QB Cam Ward has especial reason to be nervous, considering how Daboll tried to get Giants franchise player Jaxson Dart killed this season, a perverse crusade halted only by a Dart concussion—and don’t get us started on how Daboll tried to subvert the concussion protocol during a previous Dart injury. NFL football demands outstanding ability. The only thing outstanding about Daboll is his waistline. The Raiders were wise to ignore him and Saleh. Let’s hope that owner Mark Davis turns over a new leaf and has patience with whoever he does eventually hire, as there’s a fair bit of rebuilding to be done.