Lawmaker Proposes Sports Betting Proposal in Georgia

Noting the NFL’s popularity, a Georgia lawmaker says he’ll push this year to legalize sports betting in the Peach State.

Proposal for Constitutional Amendment

Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, said last week in a newspaper op-ed that he’ll spearhead a state constitutional amendment “to allow the Georgia Lottery to create a sports gaming bill.”

The legislative session began at the Gold Dome in Atlanta last month and is scheduled to run through March 31.

Stephens, chairman of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, said revenue from sports betting would go toward education programs.

The legislator also noted that some national online bookmakers are publicly traded U.S. companies. In the past, Georgia lawmakers have said that bettors are wagering illegally through unregulated, off-shore sportsbooks.

“With the rising popularity of sports gaming, especially with the rising popularity of the National Football League, many states have legalized the practice,” he wrote in the Bryan County News. “Even some of the biggest sports wagering companies are listed on major stock exchanges.”

A constitutional change would require a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate and public approval in a statewide election.

Gaming Bills Shelved Last Year

In 2021, efforts to approve sports betting and other gambling expansion in Georgia failed to win approval in both legislative chambers.

Sports-betting bills backed by Republicans lost support from Democrats last year in a dispute over a voting bill, according to news reports.

Among other organizations that supported sports betting last year in Georgia were Atlanta’s professional sports teams, the NFL’s Falcons, the National Basketball Association’s Hawks, Major League Baseball’s Braves, and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United FC.

Bills that would have paved the way for casinos and horse tracks also were shelved last year at the Legislature.

Sports Betting’s Nationwide Growth

Nationwide, sports betting is legal and operational in 30 states and Washington, D.C., according to the American Gaming Association. It is legal but not yet up and running in three more states.

As the nation’s eighth-most populous state, George is home to 11 million residents and is viewed as a potentially lucrative sport-betting market.

In addition to major professional teams, the state also is home to the Georgia Bulldogs, an SEC East football powerhouse and current national champion, and the ACC’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Georgia’s nearest neighbor with sports betting is Tennessee, which launched its mobile wagering program in November 2020. There are no brick-and-mortar casinos in Tennessee.

Georgia Opponents Voice Objections

Sports betting legislation and other gaming bills are expected to face opposition from the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

Mike Griffin, the board’s public affairs representative, told WJCL-TV, the ABC affiliate in Savannah, that a webinar he participated in shows gambling addiction is “in the same category as heroin, opioids, tobacco alcohol and cocaine.”

"I think an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure,” he said.

Some have suggested that sports betting initiatives might stand a better chance of approval in states such as Georgia if a public vote were held allowing counties to opt-out.

In Louisiana, nine parishes voted against sports betting in a November 2020 statewide election.

People in those parishes are not allowed to participate in the mobile waging that takes place in Louisiana’s other 55 parishes. Any attempt to wager from within the banned parishes is blocked by electronic geofencing.