COLUMBUS--House Bill 194 is modeled after the state of West Virginia and calls for a 10% tax rate on wagers.

• The Ohio House and Senate remain divided on who will oversee legalized sports betting in our state.
• Both sides do agree the wagers will be taken in Ohio's 11 casinos and racinos as well as online.
• Bill sponsors say a compromise is needed to move the measure forward. 

It would allow betting at 11 casinos and racinos, as well as lottery terminals in fraternal and veterans halls.

Sponsors Dave Greenspan and Brigid Kelly are calling for the the Ohio Lottery Commission to be in charge and the revenue would go towards Ohio's schools and gambling addiction programs. 

“Through the traditional brick and mortar that are in our bill, about $30 to $35 million a year from those facilities, with the addition of mobile and online, which our bill provides the opportunity to offer, we can see the numbers reach $60 to $100 million a year,” says Greenspan. 

“It provides additional money for public education. And that's something that we talk about all the time at the Statehouse is that we really need to create a vehicle for our kids to have the best education no matter where they grow up,” says Representative Brigid Kelly. 

Seven other states, including West Virginia, Pennsylvania are now offering sports wagering.

“As we see what our sister states are doing, Ohio's being left behind the further time we wait,” says Senator Sean O’Brien. 

On the Senate side, SB 111 sponsors John Eklund and Sean O'Brien, agree that wagering should take place in Ohio casinos, racinos as well as online.

The Senate plan also lays out a six-point-two-five percent tax on gross income from all wagers and calls for the money to be deposited into the state's General Revenue Fund. 

However, their bill is placing control in the hands of the Ohio Casino Commission.

“We don't have to create a new infrastructure, we already have the casinos with the security, with the background checks. All that is already there, so I think it is better in that forum,” says O’Brien. 

The one issue that will most likely be debated in coming months is where betting should be allowed.

'We're hearing from bars and bowling alleys, and convenience stores, and gas stations. They all want to offer sports gaming. And that's going to be the greater discussion I think as we move the bill forward,” says Greenspan. 

“We're hoping before summer lets out that we'll have some compromise and then get it through in the fall when we break for winter,” says O’Brien.