“The Division (of Unclaimed Funds) saw an approximately 80% increase in claims initiated the week of June 3 compared to the previous week,” said Franklin Freytag, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Commerce.
About 133,250 claims were initiated from June 3-26, he said. To put this in perspective, there were 14,111 claims initiated the week of May 25-June 2, Freytag said.
Ohio’s unclaimed funds are money that is property of Ohioans held by the state for things like forgotten bank accounts, rent or utility deposits, or uncashed insurance policies. An initiated claim is when someone submits a form to claim their funds. Additional documents are needed to prove ownership of the funds.
The Division of Unclaimed Funds received approximately $528 million in unclaimed funds in fiscal year 2024, and 26,420 claims were approved for payment, totaling approximately $149 million, Freytag said.
Ohio’s unclaimed funds is worth close to $5 billion, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed the state’s two-year operating budget, which included giving the green light to spend $600 million of unclaimed funds on the Browns’ new domed stadium in Brook Park. The budget allows the state to take existing unclaimed funds that are at least 10 years old as of Jan. 1, 2026.
“My criteria is it had to be holistic and universal, but it also would not spend money out of the general fund that directly competes with education (or) directly competes with mental health,” DeWine said. “Stadiums should not compete with mental health. Stadiums should not compete with education. And this budget, while it didn’t do it the way I originally designed it, does that. And those two things were my first priority.”
DeWine and the Ohio House had different ideas for how to pay for the Browns stadium, but lawmakers ultimately went with the Senate’s plan during the conference committee.
“That was not my first choice,” DeWine said. “I had another way of doing it. But, you know, governors don’t get everything they want. Nobody gets everything they want.”
DeWine had proposed doubling sports betting taxes, while the Ohio House wanted to borrow $600 million by issuing bonds and repaying the debt, with interest, over 25 years, at a cost of about $1 billion.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost urged DeWine to veto the use of unclaimed funds for the Browns’ stadium.
“Billionaires should finance their own stadiums—full stop,” Yost wrote in his June 27 letter. “The $600 million handout for a single professional sports facility raises serious concerns about fiscal sustainability and fairness. … Most Ohioans will never set foot in the proposed Brook Park stadium or similar venues—whether due to lack of interest, team affiliation, or the unaffordable cost of attending professional sporting events.”
Two former Democratic lawmakers — former state Rep. Jeff Crossman and former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann — said they are going through with a class action lawsuit against the stadium funding plan.
Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: [email protected].
