By John Hilber / Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State NewsLab-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

In the first two days after sports betting was legalized, Ohio saw over 11.3 million bets placed - nearly one for every Ohio resident, according to the Cincinnati Bar Association.

Within a year, Ohioans had bet $7.65 billion on sports.

Sports betting became legal in Ohio effective Jan. 1, 2023. Since then, sports betting has driven a significant increase in state tax revenue and sports viewership - along with reports of problem gambling, experts say.

"The number one driver [of legalizing sports gambling] is a tax revenue opportunity," said Stephen Shapiro, a professor in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina. "In states where it is not legal, it's illegal gambling, and the state is seeing no benefit from that. So that's revenue that did not exist before, and it could be used for a variety of benefits for the state."

In 2023, Ohio collected more than $936 million in tax revenue from sports betting. Gamblers have to pay a 10% tax on all winnings. According to the Ohio Department of Taxation, the state uses the taxes to fund different Gross Casino Revenue Funds and efforts to help with gambling problems.

Apps like FanDuel and DraftKings facilitate many sports bets in the 38 states that have legalized it. By using apps, gamblers aren't limited to traditional bets on the margin of victory or bets on who wins or loses outright - they have many options per sporting event, like multi-stage parlays, event-based bets and individual performance bets.

"Traditionally, someone could have bet on this game, and they watch the game in its entirety, and they win or lose based on the outcome and the score - it's one bet," Shapiro said. "Now, in this particular game, the Packers get the ball, and they drive down the field and score a touchdown, and there were 20 opportunities to bet during that one drive."

Gambling means more people watching sports, experts say

Now legal in most of the United States, sports betting has shown some benefits for professional sports leagues.

"People are definitely watching sports that they have not watched before due to gambling - there is no question about it," Shapiro said. "It leads to more consumption and consumption of sports that you're not typically watching."

That may be because gambling can heighten viewers' excitement.

"Gambling, for the most part, provides people with the opportunity to get excited because of the possibility of winning," said James Whelan, a research professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Memphis. "There are social reasons to gamble, but in the end, the idea of doing something risky is getting rewarded by winning money,"

Ted Baugh, the vice president of Corporate Partnerships and Premium Hospitality for the Cleveland Guardians, said Major League Baseball is trying to help everyone associated with the sport navigate legal gambling, including players and fans alike.

"It is constant education," he said. "It is constant reminding that it is legal, but don't be stupid. It is more about what is good for the fan and what is legal."

As gambling expands, so does problem gambling

According to Ohio for Responsible Gambling, the Problem Gambling Helpline in Ohio received 10,637 calls in 2023 compared to 6,835 in 2022.

"Everybody with a gambling problem comes at it a little differently," Whelan said. "For many of these people, there are other things going on in their life that also feed into why they may become overly involved in gambling, even though gambling is harmful to them."

Whelan encourages gamblers to monitor themselves by asking, in part: "When am I in harm's way? When am I getting hurt by this, and I need to back off?"

Whelan said the majority of people who want to control their gambling can benefit from cognitive-behavioral intervention treatments. Cognitive-behavioral therapy aims to change a patient's behavior by changing how the patient thinks about the actions.

"Have a good time, enjoy yourself, set limits and stick with them," Whelan said.


This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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A new report showed Montana receives a larger share of federal funding than the national average and the effects of continued cuts could be "dramatic."

For every dollar Montana contributes in federal taxes, the state receives $1.40 in return, according to the Montana Nonprofit Association report. In 2024, it totaled more than $14 billion disbursed, a number trending down in 2025 as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk make more cuts in the name of government efficiency.

Adam Jespersen, executive director of the Montana Nonprofit Association, warned "even microreductions would have dramatic impacts."

"We're all for eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse," Jespersen acknowledged. "But those conversations need to be had with care, with planful action and with communication around the 'what' and the 'why' and the 'how.'"

Federal funds reach Montanans through federal jobs, nonprofits, social programs and state and local government revenue, as well as the services they provide. It includes aid to schools, farms, housing, infrastructure, health care and more.

There are more than 650 nonprofits in Montana employing more than 60,000 people, or nearly 12% of the state's workforce. Among those organizations, 64% would be in financial peril without government funds, according to the report. Jespersen called the early cuts a "canary in the coal mine."

"Because those impacts are de minimis compared to other impacts that may come from cuts to social security, to Medicaid, to education, to local government, things like that," Jespersen explained.

Cuts could affect rural Montana in more ways, as 89% of Montana counties are more reliant on Social Security and veterans benefits than the national average, as are 86% of counties on Medicare.

In line with tribal treaty rights, 58% of revenue to tribal governments in Montana came from federal funding between 2003 and 2009.


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Federal workers in the Commonwealth are part of a national labor union lawsuit filed against President Donald Trump's executive order to strip collective bargaining rights from nearly one million federal employees.

The Trump administration had already ended collective bargaining agreements with Transportation Security Administration employees.

Scott Robinson, president of AFGE Local 448 in Virginia, said federal workers like himself are not the enemy, adding that these actions threaten protections from unfair disciplinary actions or firings without cause.

"There's a huge effort to portray federal employees as guys in gray suits, who make hundreds of thousands of dollars and work in a fancy office in D.C. That's not the case," Robinson explained. "The federal employees that you interact with are park rangers. They're TSA officers. They're the SSA clerks. They are the VA nurses."

The Trump administration has said the order is needed to protect America's national security interests and defend the president's agenda.

The order revokes the collective bargaining rights of federal workers involved in national security issues. That spans federal employees at nearly two dozen agencies, including the Defense Department and Justice Department.

Federal employee unions have filed multiple lawsuits to stop the administration from shrinking the federal workforce and shuttering government agencies. These employees have also used their union rights to file grievances over certain policy decisions by Trump.

Robinson pointed out those collective bargaining agreements protect employees trying to serve their country - and provide continuity long after a president is out of office.

"There's no reason to oppose the concept of working people working towards a common goal, whether that's better pay, better working conditions or societal change," Robinson said. "Working people know what's best for them, and they don't need to be told what's best for them by an administration or by biased media."

Trump is taking action as labor unions experience a surge of public popularity. A Gallup poll found 70% of Americans have a favorable view of unions - one of the highest approval ratings since 1965.

As President Donald Trump dismantles the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, advocates of the agency warn that veterans and military service members in the Commonwealth will suffer.

The bureau partly enforces the Military Lending Act, which protects service members and their families from predatory lending and financial practices. The bureau has issued regulations that include limits on overdraft fees and restrictions on considering medical debt in credit reports.

Brian Johns, executive director of Virginia Organizing, said military members are often targets of predatory financial practices - many times right outside their bases.

"There were just dozens of payday-lending places, check-cashing places, car-title lending places," he said. "It became apparent that many of those who were living on base were definitely the targets to get cash quick, but without being made fully aware of all of the negative implications, including, like, 400% interest."

In a speech in February, Trump called the bureau "out of control" and questioned whether employees at the agency received kickbacks from money they return to consumers.

The House originally planned to vote to end overdraft fee protections enacted by the bureau this week. But disagreements among Republicans on other legislation ground votes in the lower chamber to a halt.

Christine Chen Zinner, chief policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform, said service members have been described as the canary in the coal mine for abusive practices by financial institutions. The bureau, she said, helps protect service members, especially younger enlistees with less financial literacy.

"It is truly an agency where the government's working for the people," she said. "They vigorously protect consumers and their families. They protect service members, veterans and their families. They reduce junk fees, and they hold companies accountable when they engage in unfair and illegal conduct."

Since its inception, the bureau has returned more than $360 million to veterans and service members.