Ohio House Finance Committee hears bill to allow nonprofits to sell raffle tickets online

House Bill 476 would allow nonprofit organizations across Ohio to sell raffle tickets online, sponsors told the Ohio House Finance Committee at a first hearing on the bill.

Representative Thomas, one of the bill sponsors, told the committee the measure was a “practical and much needed modernization of Ohio law” after the Ohio Attorney General issued cease-and-desist letters to some groups conducting online raffles. “These groups were not acting in bad faith. They were simply adapting to a new fundraising landscape,” Thomas said during sponsor testimony.

The bill would add an explicit online option to the existing charitable raffle statute and — sponsors emphasized — would not expand legal gaming to online poker, card games, or other forms of internet gambling. Thomas said the legislation is written to require nonprofits to remain “in good standing” and to comply with the same oversight and reporting requirements that apply to in-person raffles; the sponsors included an emergency clause because some organizations said enforcement actions had already halted vital fundraising.

Committee members’ questions focused on three recurring issues: the Attorney General’s legal rationale, how online platforms…