TLDR Ohio Senate Bill 479 would ban betting on elections and political contests, including on Kalshi and Polymarket. State Senator Bill DeMora says the bill aims to protect public confidence in election results. If passed, Ohio would become the 33rd state to ban election betting. Kalshi is seeking a rehearing after a federal appeals court ruled Ohio can regulate prediction markets. Ohio regulators gave licensed gaming businesses until October 30 to stop working with prediction market operators.
Ohio lawmakers are taking another step against prediction markets. A new bill would ban betting on elections and other political contests in the state.
Senate Bill 479 was introduced this month by State Senator Bill DeMora. It would block wagers on election outcomes and apply the ban to prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
This is DeMora’s second attempt to regulate prediction markets. In April, he introduced Senate Bill 430, which focused on licensing and taxing sports prediction markets.
Ohio Lawmaker Cites Election Integrity
DeMora told NBC 4i that election integrity is the main reason for the bill. He said betting on political races could hurt public trust in results.
“Anything that is taking the reliability and people’s confidence away from election results is not a good thing, and I don’t think we should be betting on these outcomes,” he said.
If the bill passes, Ohio would join 32 other states that already ban election betting.
The election betting ban is part of a wider push to bring prediction markets under Ohio’s gambling laws. DeMora has argued that Kalshi and Polymarket should face the same licensing and tax rules as sportsbooks.
Licensed sports betting operators in Ohio pay entry fees between $50,000 and $2.5 million, depending on the license type. Annual renewal fees can reach hundreds of thousands