The state of Georgia could potentially be one of the next states to legalize sports betting.
State senator and U.S. House candidate Brandon Beach opened a recent state Senate study committee by bringing up the fact that other states are cashing in on the sports betting craze.
“So I thought, when that happened, it would be important for us to not only look at sports betting, but a holistic approach to gaming. If we’re going to look at sports betting, we should look at the whole gaming industry,” said Beach, R-Alpharetta.
New Governor
Beach is among a few different state lawmakers to file bills that would legalize a number of different betting forms over the next few years. However, all of this came under a Republican governor who has been opposed to casino gambling in the past.
New Governor Brian Kemp, who is also a Republican, said that even though he’s opposed to casino gambling, he wouldn’t get in the way of a casino vote – as long as the money goes to educational purposes. Currently, lottery money goes to Pre-K education and pays for people getting certificates and degrees at technical colleges and universities – that amounted to $1.2 billion last year.
State senator Ed Harbison, D-Columbus, mentioned that Democrats would likely want some changes made. Beach even said that he’d be willing to expand needs-based scholarships.
“We think there should be some kind of equal footing between need for those children who otherwise could do academically, but don’t have the money,” said Harbison.
It is important to note, though, that Georgia voters would have to approve any casino or horse-racing betting proposals, and that would need to get a two-thirds majority vote in the state Legislature. Luckily, sports betting might not need a public vote. If it doesn’t need a public vote, it could pass through state Legislature with a basic majority vote.
Information Gathering
Before all of this takes place, the state wants to collect all the information it can on gambling and then what tax rate would be appropriate.
Savannah Republican state Rep. Ron Stephens is a supporter of casino gambling. He’s chairing a committee in the House that would be taking a look into every angle of betting. Stephens even mentioned that some of that money could be spent on healthcare.
“Is education the only thing that we’re going to look? The two issues that are going to come up in this next election are education and health care,” Stephens said.
One thing that’s for certain is the fact that Georgia is losing business to other territories.
“Montgomery’s killing us,” Harbison said. “People want to gamble. They go to Cherokee, they go to Montgomery. The money might as well stay in Georgia, say gaming bill fans.”
In 2017, Beach and Stephens filed gaming bills that would have licensed two casinos – one in Atlanta and the other in Savannah. Beach verbally backed the casino for the Atlanta tourist and convention crowd, even though not many others have joined him in that support.
Beach’s committee will meet a lot more in the future, while Stephens’ group will begin meeting next month. Both sides will have recommendations for the state Legislature by December, while the annual legislative session goes from January to April.
