In an 8-3 vote, the Georgia Senate Regulated Industries Committee sent to the full Senate a bill allowing residents to vote on legalizing parimutuel wagering. If the Senate approves Senate Resolution 135 by a two-thirds majority, it will be move to the General Assembly for final approval. The constitutional amendment would appear on the 2016 ballot.
“People of Georgia now don’t understand why we don’t have horse racing. We really see this as economic development legislation, and obviously the senators see the value that the great American sport of horseracing can bring to Georgia in terms of jobs and tourism,” said Dean Reeves, president of the Georgia Horse Racing Coalition and owner of Mucho Macho Man, the American thoroughbred winner of the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic. “Our studies show that racing with parimutuel wagering could generate as much as $25 million annually in revenues for Georgia, money that would go to needs-based scholarships.”
However, State Senator William Ligon, the Senate majority caucus chairman, stated, “I don’t know that it has the support of the Senate. There’s just a tremendous social cost that comes with it.” Many opponents note in order to remain viable, racetracks have added casinos, which could attract crime. Mike Griffin, lobbyist for the Georgia Baptist Convention, said, “Gambling plays upon the weakest in society, the people who can least afford it. We think it’s a bad thing when people promise a vice like this in the name of children.”
Reeves responded, “People that are against the horseracing say that they will lead to casinos, and that’s just not true.”
