A Georgia Senate committee passed a sports betting bill Tuesday on just the second day of this year’s legislative session, kicking off a debate that’s likely to last all 40 days under the Gold Dome.
The Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee voted 8-3 to let Georgians bet on sports either online or at remote terminals or “kiosks.”
The state would retain 20% of the gross revenue from most sports bets and 25% from “high-profit” bets including live bets placed during games. The money would go toward various state programs to be spelled out in a separate constitutional amendment.
Senate Bill 172 was available for consideration so early in the 2024 session because it was introduced last year, the first of a two-year legislative term. The Senate tabled it last year, which left it alive to be taken up again this year.
“This has been a long process,” Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, the committee’s chairman and the bill’s chief sponsor, said Tuesday. “It’s been multiple years we’ve been dealing with these gambling issues.”
Cowsert said about three dozen states have legalized sports betting since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018 allowed it to expand beyond a handful of states – including Nevada – where it already was legal.
Georgia lawmakers have debated a multitude of sports betting bills since, but nothing has made it through the General Assembly.
Cowsert’s bill would establish a seven-member sports betting commission authorized to grant at least six licenses for sports betting operations. He said Atlanta’s pro sports teams, which formed a coalition several years ago to push for sports betting, could potentially set up kiosks in their home stadiums or arenas.
The legislation includes provisions aimed at protecting bettors from fraudulent sports betting operators as well as provisions to help problem gamblers avoid crippling financial losses.
The legislation is what is known in General Assembly parlance as an “enabling” bill, designed to fill in the details of an accompanying constitutional amendment.
Some lawmakers introduced legalized gambling bills last year designed not to require changing the Georgia Constitution, but whether that’s legal has been the topic of a running debate. Constitutional amendments require two-thirds votes of the state House and Senate, while other bills only need simple majorities to pass.
Any constitutional amendment that gets through the legislature then must win approval on the statewide ballot to become law.
“I don’t see anything to fear from a constitutional amendment,” Cowsert said. “It’s the right thing to do. Let the people decide when you’re making a major policy change.”
A couple of committee members questioned passing an enabling bill before its accompanying constitutional amendment has been drafted.
Sen. Carden Summers, R-Cordele, the committee’s vice chairman, said he will introduce a sports betting constitutional amendment later in the session.
“We’re not going anywhere with it without a (constitutional amendment),” Summers assured his committee colleagues.
Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, also is planning to introduce a constitutional amendment into the Senate that would let voters decide whether to legalize casino gambling and pari-mutuel betting on horse racing in addition to sports betting.
This story comes to Rough Draft via a media partnership with Capitol Beat.