Georgia legislators recently held a meeting with representatives from the Entain Foundation US in Atlanta regarding proposed gambling bills. Currently, the only forms of legal gambling in Georgia are the lottery and charity bingo.
Previous legislative proposals and sessions have not managed to legalize either casinos, horseracing or sports betting in the Peach State. Bordering state, North Carolina, launched online sports betting recently in July this year, while other neighboring states, Alabama and South Carolina, have not legalized sports wagering, and Florida has been unable to launch online sports betting due to a temporary halt by the Supreme Court.
According to local reports, legislators in Georgia are concerned by gambling addiction, unsure how gambling revenue would be distributed and divided on which forms of gambling to legalize. Retail and online sports betting have been lobbied for by the Princeton Public Affairs Group (PPAG), with support from Entain trustee, Bill Pascrell.
Pascrell said, “Georgia has politically a lot of issues including the Trump indictment, so there’s a little bit of a distraction at the moment but I feel pretty positive Georgia is going to move (betting) on next year along with a few other states.”
He added, “If you don’t regulate it, you can’t track it, you can’t monitor it. The only way to penetrate and have an impact on problem gambling in a particular jurisdiction is to regulate it.”
Sports betting is the current front-runner over the legalization of either casinos or horseracing in the state, though during the 2023 legislative session, no sports betting bill cleared either chamber. There is also discussion over whether a statewide ballot referendum would be necessary if gambling were to be overseen by the Georgia Lottery.
The Georgia Lottery currently funds the Hope Scholarship and Pre-K programs in the state. Some lawmakers disagree on whether potential gambling tax revenue should also go to these programs.
Martin Lycka, SVP for American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling at Entain, claimed that legalizing sports wagering would discourage black market betting. Lycka also said that the tax revenue and money spent on the future marketing of betting within the state would boost the local economy.
Lycka added, “Let’s not fool ourselves into believing that Georgians would not be betting at the moment.”
The Georgia Baptist Mission Board is in strong opposition of not only legalized gambling, but sports wagering specifically. Board lobbyist Mike Griffin said, “Sports gambling is one of the most dangerous forms of gambling because of its easy accessibility and its ability to create addiction.
“While I know it is being said that many are already doing this kind of gambling anyway, we must understand that just because somebody is doing something illegal does not mean that it should be made legal.”
