Georgia Sports Betting Bills Fail to Pass Again
Efforts to legalize sports betting in Georgia have failed once again as legislators couldn’t agree on how to spend tax revenue from the industry. 2024 marks the fourth consecutive year that sports betting has failed to pass in the state.
Senate Bill 386 and Senate Resolution 579 were passed in the Georgia Senate, but neither ever came to a vote in the House before the end of the 2024 session on March 28.
This means that Georgians will have to wait until at least 2025 before sports betting can be legalized.
And as more and more states across the country legalize sports betting, Georgia remains one of only a few holdouts.
What happened?
The failure of this year’s bills is just more in a long line of unsuccessful sports betting legislation in the state. SB 386 and SR 579 were both passed in the state Senate, but the House of Representatives failed to vote on the measures before the end of the legislative session on March 28, 2024.
What’s next?
Under Georgia law, SB 386 and SR 579 are still eligible for voting during the next legislative session. Georgia’s General Assembly runs in two-year cycles, so bills that don’t pass or aren’t voted on in the first year could have a second chance the next year. However, if a bill is not passed in its second year, it must go through the whole process again.
What was the package?
The two main pieces of sports betting legislation introduced in the 2024 session were SB 386, a bill to legalize online sports betting, and SR 579, a resolution legalizing sports betting through a constitutional amendment.
SB 386
Sen. Clint Dixon’s (R-45) Sports betting bill SB 386 was first read and referred to the Senate on Jan. 25, 2024. The bill would allow for 16 sports betting license holders. Eight of the licenses would be given to and one to the Georgia Lottery. The other seven would be open licenses for sportsbooks. Each license would have a $100,000 application fee and would cost $1 million annually to renew.
The bill also establishes provisions for a new gaming commission which would oversee and regulate sports betting in the state. It includes a 20% tax rate that would provide funding for pre-K and other educational programs through the Georgia Lottery.
SB 386 passed in the Senate by a 35-15 vote, and it was then sent to the House of Representatives. The bill was assigned to the House Higher Education Committee on Feb. 7. The committee favorably reported the bill on March 28, the last day of the 2024 legislative session. However, the House failed to vote on the bill by the end of the session, so it would not be passed in 2024.
SR 579
Sen. Bill Cowsert’s (R-16) resolution goes along with SB 386, and it proposes an amendment to the state constitution to legalize sports betting. This means that Georgia voters would have to approve a constitutional amendment in the November general election to legalize betting.
The resolution also specifies that 85% of sports betting tax revenue would go toward HOPE scholarship funding, pre-K funding, educational training, and capital improvements. The other 15% would go to a fund.
SR 579 passed in the Senate by a 41-12 vote, and it was sent to the House, where it suffered the same fate as SB 386. Both measures will be eligible for reintroduction at the start of the next legislative session.
History of Sports Betting Bills in Georgia
2024 marks the fourth consecutive year of failed sports betting legislation in Georgia. In that time, most bills have originated in the Senate, with many failing to reach a vote in the House.
February 2021
SB 142 & SR 135
SB 142 was very similar to HB 86, but it did allow for collegiate wagers. Its accompanying resolution, SR 135 put the question of sports betting on the ballot for voters.
HB 86 and the Senate package eventually fell at the center of a heated partisan battle spurred by Governor Kemp’s controversial voting rights law, and would never progress past House committee.
