Ohio Proposes a 48-Hour Sportsbook Marketing Blackout After Bettors Set or Change Limits

Ohio’s Casino Control Commission has proposed barring sportsbooks from sending a bettor direct marketing for 48 hours after the bettor turns on or changes a responsible-gambling tool, such as a deposit or wager limit. Limits set when an account is first opened are exempt, according to the commission’s summary of the new paragraph (E) in Rule 3775-16-03. Written comments are due at 5 p.m. Oct. 30.

The commission said the change is meant “to address concerns related to potentially harmful targeted marketing that is being sent to individuals who are engaging with problem gambling tools,” Legal Sports Report reported. The ban would cover push notifications and any other digital or physical direct marketing.

The draft is stamped “NOT YET FILED,” TrueEdge Wire reported, and it is the third amendment to the same rule the commission has opened in four months, after a July 7 proposal to drop credit cards as a deposit method and an Oct. 5 proposal tightening identity checks. TrueEdge says it hasn’t seen the sentence in any other state’s rule book.

What Ohio already requires

Ohio’s existing rule makes every funded account offer “an easy and obvious method,” from registration on, to cap deposits, wagers and time spent betting, Legal Sports Report notes. A limit can only be loosened after its period runs out, and books have to offer limits that renew automatically.

What the rule has never covered, TrueEdge points out, is what a book may do with the news that a customer just used one of those tools. The new paragraph reaches only direct marketing sent to a person, so offers that every customer sees on opening the app aren’t covered on its face.

Down or up

The commission’s own summary says “enabling or changing,” and it draws no line between the two. A bettor who tightens a cap gets two days without direct marketing, and so does one who raises a cap the day it expires.

TrueEdge calls the loosening moment the chase case and notes the draft doesn’t define “changing.” Narrowing the word to “enabling” in the final text would leave out the bettor raising a cap.

Where Ohio sits

New Jersey lawmakers advanced a bill in May that would have banned promotions permanently for any bettor who used a responsible-gambling tool, Legal Sports Report says, and it hasn’t moved since. New York this month barred personalized promotions built on a customer’s own play, according to TrueEdge. Ohio’s two days are the smallest version of the three.

Ohio has made a call like this before without a study behind it. In 2023 it ended promotions triggered by non-gaming purchases, now Rule 3775-16-09. TrueEdge, citing the commission’s 2024 Business Impact Analysis, reports that Fanatics objected that the commission “has not cited any study or statistical basis,” and the commission answered that “no scientific data was necessary to develop or measure” the change.

Legal Sports Report raises the question of whether bettors could skip the tools to avoid missing a promotion, the opposite of what operators want, and DraftKings’ chief responsible gaming officer, Lori Kalani, told Louisiana regulators Thursday that using the tools needs to be normalized. DraftKings once offered a chance at Super Bowl tickets just for checking a stats page, she said.

As drafted, the two quiet days start with the click, which puts the rule’s only cost to the bettor on the same screen where Ohio wants the tool used.

Sources

• Ohio Casino Control Commission: Summary of Proposed Changes, Rule 3775-16-03 (Oct. 2026)
• Legal Sports Report: Ohio Regulators Want To Pause Promos If Bettors Use Responsible Gaming Tools (Corey Sharp, Oct. 16, 2026)
• TrueEdge Wire: Ohio Wants 48 Hours of Silence After You Set a Deposit Limit (Priya Natarajan, Oct. 17, 2026)