A Senate-approved sports betting bill is now sitting in a House committee for approval but the clock is running out as the House floor would need to vote on it before March 28th for the legislation to get on the ballot in November. Let’s go through the details behind its deadline and how its approval would potentially impact top-rated sportsbooks.
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A sports betting bill, SB 386, sponsored by Georgia State Senator Clint Dixon, passed the Senate over five weeks ago but is only now being discussed by the Georgia House Committee on Higher Education. It must soar through the committee and ultimately be approved on the House floor for the bill to pass. All of this must happen by March 28th or the bill will be on the shelf until the next legislative session.
If the legislation does advance, the Georgia electorate will get the final say at the ballot box in November’s general election. There is also an accompanying constitutional amendment sponsored by Senator Bill Cowsert, SR 579, which requires a constitutional amendment to allow sports betting and allocates where the tax revenue would go. But there is a long way to go between now and then, considering neither bill has been ratified in the House.
“We have a lot of work to do on this measure,” committee Chairman Chuck Martin said.
The last time Georgia’s citizens were asked to decide on a gaming proposal was in 1992 when they voted yes to a state lottery. Senator Cowsert believes the voters should once again have their say on the matter.
“Democracy is a pretty powerful thing. I don’t think you can rightly criticize allowing the citizens of this state to decide what they do and do not want. They might make a bad choice, they might make a good choice, but it’s not always appropriate for us to dictate our will on them, especially with huge policy issues like this,” Cowsert said at the latest committee hearing.
Rep. Marcus Wiedower has also advanced sports betting legislation in the past and agreed with his colleague in the Senate, saying, “You start talking about constituents…I’ve gotten more emails for sports betting than I have against it since last year. That’s just a fact.”
What’s in the Bill?
SB 386 has provisions for as many as 16 online sportsbooks in the state of which nine must be tied to the following organizations:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Atlanta Falcons
- Atlanta Braves
- Atlanta United FC
- Atlanta Dream
- Augusta National Golf Course
- PGA Tour
- Atlanta Motor Speedway
- Georgia Lottery Corporation
The remaining seven licenses would be awarded by the gaming commission. The legislation would also allow college sports betting and tax the mobile sports operators at 20% on adjusted gross revenues. There would also be a $100,000 application fee and licenses would cost $1 million annually.
Where the revenue would go is another bone of contention as some lawmakers want the entire sum earmarked for the HOPE Scholarship fund while another faction would prefer the taxes be allocated to several social programs.
Representative Cowsert’s bill distributes the money as follows:
- 80% into the Educational Opportunity Fund. The fund will support pre-kindergarten programs in the state. Once fully funded, the remaining revenues will go to the HOPE scholarships.
- 15% to a responsible gaming fund.
- 5% to a Sports Promotion Fund to attract major sporting events to the state.
Digital Wager Wire will continue to monitor this story and update our readers as events unfold.
