SB 199: Levy a fee on gross sports gaming wagers; specify revenue use
To amend sections 123.28, 123.281, 5753.01, 5753.031, 5753.04, 5753.05, 5753.06, 5753.07, 5753.08, and 5753.12 and to enact sections 123.282 and 5753.022 of the Revised Code to levy a fee on gross sports gaming wagers and to use revenue from the fee to support publicly owned professional sports facilities and interscholastic athletics.
| May. 28, 2025 | Referred to committee: Select Committee on Gaming |
| May. 14, 2025 | Introduced |
As Introduced
136th General Assembly
Regular Session
S. B. No. 199
2025-2026
Senator Blessing
To amend sections 123.28, 123.281, 5753.01, 5753.031, 5753.04, 5753.05, 5753.06, 5753.07, 5753.08, and 5753.12 and to enact sections 123.282 and 5753.022 of the Revised Code to levy a fee on gross sports gaming wagers and to use revenue from the fee to support publicly owned professional sports facilities and interscholastic athletics.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 123.28, 123.281, 5753.01, 5753.031, 5753.04, 5753.05, 5753.06, 5753.07, 5753.08, and 5753.12 be amended and sections 123.282 and 5753.022 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 123.28. As used in this section and in sections 123.281 and 123.282 of the Revised Code:
- (A) "Culture" means any of the following:
- Visual, musical, dramatic, graphic, design, and other arts, including, but not limited to, architecture, dance, literature, motion pictures, music, painting, photography, sculpture, and theater, and the provision of training or education in these arts;
- The presentation or making available, in museums or other indoor or outdoor facilities, of principles of science and their development, use, or application in business, industry, or commerce or of the history, heritage, development, presentation, and uses of the arts described in division (A)(1) of this section and of transportation;
- The preservation, presentation, or making available of features of archaeological, architectural, environmental, or historical interest or significance in a state historical facility or a local historical facility.
- (B) "Cultural organization" means either of the following:
- A governmental agency or Ohio nonprofit corporation, including the Ohio history connection, that provides programs or activities in areas directly concerned with culture;
- A regional arts and cultural district as defined in section 3381.01 of the Revised Code.
- (C) "Cultural project" means all or any portion of an Ohio cultural facility for which the general assembly has made an appropriation or has specifically authorized the spending of money or the making of rental payments relating to the financing of construction.
- (D) "Cooperative use agreement" means a contract between the Ohio facilities construction commission and a cultural organization providing the terms and conditions of the cooperative use of an Ohio cultural facility.
- (E) "Costs of operation" means amounts required to manage an Ohio cultural facility that are incurred following the completion of construction of its cultural project, provided that both of the following apply:
- Those amounts either:
- Have been committed to a fund dedicated to that purpose;
- Equal the principal of any endowment fund, the income from which is dedicated to that purpose.
- The commission and the cultural organization have executed an agreement with respect to either of those funds.
- Those amounts either:
- (F) "Governmental agency" means a state agency, a state institution of higher education as defined in section 3345.12 of the Revised Code, a municipal corporation, county, township, or school district, a port authority created under Chapter 4582. of the Revised Code, any other political subdivision or special district in this state established by or pursuant to law, or any combination of these entities; except where otherwise indicated, the United States or any department, division, or agency of the United States, or any agency, commission, or authority established pursuant to an interstate compact or agreement.
- (G) "Local contributions" means the value of an asset provided by or on behalf of a cultural organization from sources other than the state, the value and nature of which shall be approved by the Ohio facilities construction commission, in its sole discretion. "Local contributions" may include the value of the site where a cultural project is to be constructed. All "local contributions," except a contribution attributable to such a site, shall be for the costs of construction of a cultural project or the creation or expansion of an endowment for the costs of operation of a cultural facility.
- (H) "Local historical facility" means a site or facility, other than a state historical facility, of archaeological, architectural, environmental, or historical interest or significance, or a facility, including a storage facility, appurtenant to the operations of such a site or facility, that is owned by a cultural organization and is used for or in connection with cultural activities, including the presentation or making available of culture to the public.
- (I) "Manage," "operate," or "management" means the provision of, or the exercise of control over the provision of, activities:
- Relating to culture for an Ohio cultural facility, including as applicable, but not limited to, providing for displays, exhibitions, specimens, and models; booking of artists, performances, or presentations; scheduling; and hiring or contracting for directors, curators, technical and scientific staff, ushers, stage managers, and others directly related to the cultural activities in the facility; but not including general building services;
- Relating to sports and athletic events for an Ohio sports facility, including as applicable, but not limited to, providing for booking of athletes, teams, and events; scheduling; and hiring or contracting for staff, ushers, managers, and others directly related to the sports and athletic events in the facility; but not including general building services.
- (J) "Ohio cultural facility" means any of the following:
- The theaters located in the state office tower at 77 South High street in Columbus;
- Any cultural facility in this state that is managed directly by, or is subject to a cooperative use or management agreement with, the Ohio facilities construction commission;
- A state historical facility or a local historical facility.
- (K) "Construction" includes acquisition, including acquisition by lease-purchase, demolition, reconstruction, alteration, renovation, remodeling, enlargement, improvement, site improvements, and related equipping and furnishing.
- (L) "State historical facility" means a site or facility that has all of the following characteristics:
- It is created, supervised, operated, protected, maintained, and promoted by the Ohio history connection pursuant to the Ohio history connection's performance of public functions under sections 149.30 and 149.302 of the Revised Code.
- Its title must reside wholly or in part with the state, the Ohio history connection, or both the state and the Ohio history connection.
- It is managed directly by or is subject to a cooperative use or management agreement with the Ohio facilities construction commission and is used for or in connection with cultural activities, including the presentation or making available of culture to the public.
- (M) "Ohio sports facility" means all or a portion of a stadium, arena, tennis facility, motorsports complex, or other capital facility in this state. A primary purpose of the facility shall be to provide a site or venue for the presentation to the public of motorsports events, professional tennis tournaments, or events of one or more major or minor league professional athletic or sports teams that are associated with the state or with a city or region of the state. The facility shall be, in the case of a motorsports complex, owned by the state or governmental agency, or in all other instances, owned by or located on real property owned by the state or a governmental agency, and includes all parking facilities, walkways, and other auxiliary facilities, equipment, furnishings, and real and personal property and interests and rights therein, that may be appropriate for or used for or in connection with the facility or its operation, for capital costs of which state funds are spent pursuant to this section and section 123.281 of the Revised Code. A facility constructed as an Ohio sports facility may be both an Ohio cultural facility and an Ohio sports facility.
- (N) "Motorsports" means sporting events in which motor vehicles are driven on a clearly demarcated tracked surface.
- (O) "Professional sports franchise" means a member of the national football league, women's national football conference, women's football alliance, women's football league association, national hockey league, professional women's hockey league, major league baseball, women's professional baseball league, major league soccer, national women's soccer league, national basketball association, or the women's national basketball association, or a successor of such an entity.
- (P) "Minor league sports franchise" means a sports franchise that is officially affiliated as a developmental league for a professional sports franchise.
Section 2. That existing sections 123.28, 123.281, 5753.01, 5753.031, 5753.04, 5753.05, 5753.06, 5753.07, 5753.08, and 5753.12 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. The amendment by this act of sections 5753.01, 5753.022, and 5753.031 of the Revised Code applies to gross wagers received on and after the first day of the first month after the effective date of those sections.
Section 4. Section 123.28 of the Revised Code is presented in this act as a composite of the section as amended by both H.B. 64 and H.B. 141 of the 131st General Assembly. The General Assembly, applying the principle stated in division (B) of section 1.52 of the Revised Code that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation, finds that the composite is the resulting version of the section in effect prior to the effective date of the section as presented in this act.