Georgia sports betting bill headed to House after clearing Senate
Legislation revised to require voters to approve constitutional amendment on November ballot in major step for the Peach State
The path to legalized sports betting in Georgia took a step forward on February 1, with the Senate formally advancing SB386, a bill that would bring regulated online wagering to the Peach State, by a vote of 35-15.
The legislation, however, faces a less-than-certain future thanks to a last-minute amendment that will require voters to approve a constitutional amendment at the ballot box in November.
The sponsor of the bill, Senator Clint Dixon, had intended to route sports betting through the Georgia Lottery – which would not have required voter approval – but Senator Bill Cowsert disagreed, prompting him to introduce the amendment.
“It is disingenuous at best and just sneaky to try to circumvent the voters of the state of Georgia,” Cowsert said of the bill.
Dixon opposed the amendment, contending on the floor that SB386 was “purely a sports betting bill, no other wagering,” to no avail.
Dixon’s bill, which was otherwise unchanged, would create 16 sports betting licenses, half of which would be tethered to Georgia’s professional sports organizations.
An additional seven would be untethered, with the final license reserved for the Georgia Lottery. Each licensee would be permitted one online sportsbook partner.
Licensees would be required to pay a $100,000 application fee and a $1m annual renewal fee while being subject to a 20% tax rate on adjusted gross income (AGR), with tax revenue supporting education initiatives.
In addition to the added wrinkle of the constitutional-amendment vote in November, the bill will first have to clear a more immediate hurdle in the House, which has yet to pass a sports betting bill despite multiple instances of the Senate doing so over the past few years.
The Georgia legislative session runs through March 28.