A Georgia House committee has voted to welcome the possibility of legalized sports betting. The House Economic Development and Tourism Committee passed a pair of bills that put the fate Georgia’s legal betting options into the hands of voters.
The committee gave the green light to Senate Resolution 135 and Senate Bill 142, which would both create ballot questions for voters to decide how statewide legalized gambling should be conducted.
Resolution 135 addresses removing legalized gambling restrictions from the state constitution. Bill 142 addresses the issue of whether online sports betting should be legal in Georgia but does not tackle other types of gambling like horseracing or casinos.
Senator Jeff Mullis originally authored the bills with the purpose of specifically addressing sports betting.
LaGrange Representative Randy Nix said the focus needs to stay on sports betting for the time being.
“We are talking about sports betting, I would like to make our constitutional amendment be explicitly that,” he said.
Savannah Representative Ron Stephens authored the amendment and said that one constitutional amendment for overall gambling expansion is the better way to go.
“You would be able to pass a constitutional amendment for only sports betting, but if you want to give your locals the opportunity, without having to come back next year with Rep. (Derek) Mallow’s suggestion with fantasy sports, with another constitutional amendment or something that’s a sound-alike, look-alike, you would pass the constitutional amendment as it is,” he said.
If the proposal becomes law, the state legislature can approve additional gambling expansions with a simple majority vote and local voter approval instead of the constitutionally required two-thirds majority vote.
Proponents for statewide legalized sports betting said it could generate as much as $100m for educational programs like Georgia pre-K and HOPE.
Midway Democratic Representative Al Williams said he looks forward to the additional funding for HOPE and especially for pre-K.
“We have lines now, lotteries, and people can’t get in because it’s underfunded. And if anybody has anything on the table that can eliminate the problems we have in health care and the problems we have in education – no matter how good we’re doing, we leave too many people behind,” he said.
“Big Momma’s been buying a ticket for years with a dollar a dream, and her dream ain’t never gotten Booboo in college yet. Let’s do something that could give him the opportunity to have a solid education and not drop out for lack of $300, $400 or $500 in gap funding.”
