At one point, the major professional sports leagues opposed the very idea of sports betting outside of Las Vegas. My how times have changed.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the heads of the city’s four professional teams have remained firmly behind the push for the legalization of online sports betting in Georgia.
Steve Koonin, president and CEO of the Atlanta Hawks, told a group of more than 100 journalists and business people that he didn’t know which legislator would bring the proposed legislation to the floor or when.
But Braves CEO Derek Schiller expected it to happen “very soon.” The Falcons and Atlanta United are also backing the move.
Team executives contend that sports gambling is happening in the state, but not legally. The NFL estimates that $1.5 billion is already being gambled illegally in Georgia yearly. Legalizing it will allow the state to regulate it, tax it and limit it to online, they told the Atlanta Press Club.
Such gaming will also help create more engaged fans, leagues said, something critical in an age of declining ratings for traditional sports broadcasts.
But gambling opponents argue that it will exacerbate social problems associated with the industry, such as family income disruption. Gambling would become as easy as sending a text on the smartphone in your pocket.
At least with a casino in a fixed place, people have to drive there, which can create a barrier, said Virginia Galloway, a Georgia lobbyist and the regional director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
“With a phone, it is like you have a casino in your pocket 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said.
Koonin and friends want a bill that limits gambling to professional sports, not college, and bets could be made on anything from who makes the next three-pointer to which team will win. Gamblers would have to deposit money in their gaming accounts to bet, so no one would be betting on borrowed money.
But Galloway pointed to studies by former Reagan White House economic adviser, Earl Grinols—author of “Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits”—who estimated that every dollar spent gambling brings $3 in community costs.
“What I am worried about is the young father who is not buying clothes or food for his family because he is addicted to this,” she said.
Despite the pros and cons, champions of sports betting need to step up soon. Any new legislation would have to be introduced before March 12.
