Georgia Senate Committee Rejects Sports Betting Bill

Sports betting legalization has once again been a hot-button topic in Georgia’s legislative chambers, but the latest bill under consideration suffered a critical setback after it was rejected in a Senate committee, ending its chances in this session.

No Amendment

Some are speculating that Senate Resolution 131, sponsored by Republican Senators Carden Summers, Billy Hickman, Brandon Beach and Lee Anderson, may have had a better chance of advancing had it not included a constitutional amendment to allow voters to decide whether to permit sports betting in the Peach State.

“This constitutional amendment would lift the prohibition that has held us back for so long,” said Senator Summers, one of the resolution’s sponsors. “It gives the people of Georgia the power to decide whether they should regulate and tax casino gambling and sports betting while keeping revenue here, instead of watching it flow to Florida, Mississippi, or other illegal markets.”

Regardless, the Georgia Senate’s Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities voted 9-2 against the bill by a show of hands, and that has pretty much sealed the bill’s fate.

Senators Don’t Forget

Last year, the Senate did pass a sports betting bill, but it died in the House. That lack of enthusiasm still hangs like a wet blanket over several senators who remain cross with their colleagues in the lower chamber and have decided to leave sports betting legislation to them.

“I don’t know if I’m willing to fall on the sword again,” Democratic Senator David Lucas said during the committee meeting. “The House has not done anything, and we have constantly tried to work it out in various ways on this, and they’ve never taken it up.”

Brandt Iden, vice president of government affairs for Fanatics, spoke on the House’s lack of cooperation after last year’s legislative session saw a sports betting bill advance from the Senate floor before it died in the lower chamber. “What happened in Georgia was incredibly frustrating and disappointing,” said Iden. “When legislative members in leadership positions make assurances, you expect them to be negotiating in good faith and willing to hold up to their commitments.

“Representative [Marcus] Wiedower delivered to leadership and his caucus everything that was expected of him with this legislation. Yet, when the time came for leadership to hold to their deal, the goalposts weren’t just moved; they removed the entire end zone from the field. Those kinds of hijinks are for schoolchildren on a playground, not serious leaders,” Iden added.

Long Shot

Despite the lack of initiative by the House, there is another Senate sports betting bill that does not require a constitutional amendment and may gain some traction because of it. However, Senate Bill 208 would need a two-thirds vote in the upper chamber before crossing over to the House. It is a long shot at this point, considering the bill has not been given much of a look thus far, and time is running out for the crossover.

Although some Georgia politicians have expressed trepidation about passing a mobile sports betting bill, citing gambling-related addictions and societal costs that may affect low-income families, the data shows that thousands of Georgians have active sports betting accounts but cannot access them unless they travel to the markets in which those companies operate.

John Pappas, a senior advisor at GeoComply, who oversees cybersecurity for major sports betting websites and enforces state boundaries for sports betting sites, said, “We saw almost 14,500 active accounts in the State of Georgia. So, these are people that could have been potential sports bettors. People who would have wanted to place a bet on a legal site but couldn’t because they were in Georgia,” Pappas said.