A bill to legalize sports betting in the state of Georgia was overwhelmingly rejected by lawmakers, ensuring the practice remains illegal for the foreseeable future.
House Resolution 450 crashed and burned in the General Assembly, receiving just 63 Yeas and 98 Nays. It needed 120 votes to pass before a key legislative deadline, but the bill now looks difficult to pass.
Lack of bipartisanship to blame, says congressman
Friday March 6 marked Crossover Day, the deadline for bills to pass one chamber and move to the other to stay on track for becoming law. The legislative session ends April 2.
While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were open to the idea of legalizing gambling in Georgia, politics got in the way, at least according to Midway Democratic state Republican Al Williams. Mr Williams explained that his party had no say on how the money raised from legalized betting could be spent, which is why he advised his colleagues to vote against the proposal.
He said: “This is in need of bipartisan support, and to get bipartisan support, you need to let the folks on this side of the aisle have some say on how the money is going to be divided. The last time I was handed a plate of food and told ‘Eat this,’ I was quite young and didn’t have any choice. Since then, I get to decide what to eat.”
Hartwell Republican Rep. Alan Powell, also advised colleagues to vote against the bill, but for different reasons. He said: “You hear all this pie in the sky about how much money they’re going to raise – no. … because most of these sports betting (services) are off-shore, in other states, and you can’t audit them, and that’s the way it is.”
Dunwoody Democratic Rep. Long Tran, who is in favor of legalization, framed his Yay vote in the context of national security. He said: “In this chamber, for the last three years I have heard ‘Foreign adversaries, we cannot have foreign adversaries buy our farmland, we cannot have foreign adversaries do this or that,’ and yet here we are letting foreign adversaries get our children, our young men, addicted to gambling and getting access to their data. It’s time that we realized that this is a real thing that happens, and we need to regulate it, and the best way to do that is to legalize it.”
Licenses would have raised 27.5% of gross revenues in taxes
If approved, House Resolution 450 would have asked Georgia voters to decide the fate of sports betting in the state during the November general election. The measure proposed placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would have allowed voters to determine whether to legalize sports wagering in Georgia.
Lawmakers outlined a framework that would have permitted up to 16 sports betting licenses statewide. Each of Georgia’s professional sports franchises would have been eligible to apply for a license, while seven additional licenses would have been awarded through a public procurement process. A final master license would have been reserved for the Georgia Lottery.
Under the proposal, sports betting operators would have been taxed at a rate of 27.5% on adjusted gross revenue.
The legislation also set licensing costs at $1 million per year, along with a required $100,000 application fee.
Still time for April 2 legislative deadline
While a blow for gambling regulation advocates, some believe there is still an appetite among colleagues to push through a law before the legislative deadline comes into effect at the beginning of next month.
Rep. Al Williams, the president-elect of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States and a staunch proponent of legalizing gambling in the state, alluded to conversations taking place in the background.
He said: “I have some people that I’ve heard, based on what they said, I think they’re amenable to a discussion, but that’s all I’m saying. Two or three people can’t sit down and pick winners and losers. Not when you wanted more votes from me than you had, and you’re not willing to compromise or give up anything? Uh-uh, I don’t think so. It doesn’t work like that,
“When people with good intentions meet, no matter how far apart they are, if they meet with good intentions, somewhere down the middle of the table we can come to an agreement. But everybody’s got to be at the table.”
Whether through renewed compromise this year or a fresh proposal in a future session, the question of legalized sports wagering in Georgia appears likely to remain a contentious topic at the State Capitol.
