Ohio Invokes Its 2023 Threat Law to Exclude a Bettor

The Ohio Casino Control Commission has placed Thornville resident Blake Morgan on its Sports Gaming Involuntary Exclusion List, the first time the regulator has used a 2023 state law written specifically to ban bettors who threaten people connected to sporting events.

Legal Sports Report reports that Major League Baseball alerted the commission to the case and supplied witness testimony and evidence that underpinned the ban, which followed alleged threats against Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider during the 2025 World Series.

According to commission records obtained by ESPN, Morgan called MLB's customer service line on the night of Game 4 between the Dodgers and Blue Jays and threatened to attend the game and harm Schneider on live television, claiming to know the manager's address.

MLB investigators traced the call to Morgan, and a league security representative who later spoke with him said Morgan acknowledged gambling and making the call. Morgan told the representative he was "pissed off" about comments Schneider had made in a press conference but denied any plan to travel to Toronto or Los Angeles.

MLB banned Morgan indefinitely from its venues and events two days after the game. Morgan has denied making the threats, ESPN reported, and at a June hearing the commission played audio of later calls in which he suggested someone visiting him had made the calls rather than him. He appealed the matter in March but did not attend the June hearing, and it is unclear whether he faces criminal charges.

OCCC Interim Executive Director Andromeda Morrison said sports gaming "should be conducted responsibly, and any act that threatens harm or violence against sports participants because of wagering will not be tolerated," adding that the commission would keep taking action against conduct that violates Ohio law.

Morgan is barred from entering any sports gaming facility in Ohio and from taking part in wagering operations in the state. He becomes the third person on the exclusion list, joining former Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon and an Ohio man accused of using inside information from Bohannon to place bets, but the commission confirmed to Legal Sports Report that he is the first excluded specifically over threats of harm or violence.

The case lands about five weeks after MLB joined the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and their players' associations in a joint letter calling on gaming regulators nationwide to impose permanent bans on bettors who threaten or harass athletes, coaches and officials, alongside streamlined reporting and greater operator accountability.

MLB's head of security, David Thomas, told the commission in June that harassment linked to betting has increased sharply since states began legalising sports wagering in 2018, describing an "innumerable number of cases" that have also reached players' families. Other states have since moved on the same issue: West Virginia and Louisiana have passed laws allowing exclusion of harassing bettors with potential felony penalties, while Massachusetts has launched an operator-backed reporting system called Bet on Respect. Ohio has also banned college player prop bets as a further protective measure.

MLB told ESPN it commends the commission's final order against Morgan and will keep working with regulators "to protect those who work in our industry from unacceptable threats."