In Georgia, the 2022 legislative session, like several before it, ended without a sports betting bill.
There was a brief moment of hope when, in a surprise move, a House committee resurrected two bills that had gone nowhere after the Senate passed them in 2021. The committee amended the bills to give lawmakers the option of passing sports wagering through the lottery or letting voters decide. The full House did not act on either bill.
Both bills included a 20 percent tax on sports betting revenue, a $100,000 application fee and $1 million in license fees, with proceeds going toward education. With the same tax rate on revenue, Tennessee took in $39 million last year, analysts said.
The next chance for Georgia to pass a sports betting bill will be 2023, and sports betting apps most likely would not be able to launch until late 2024.
That’s because the state lacks the regulatory structure other states have in place to oversee casinos and racetracks.
Derek Schiller, chief executive officer of the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves said, “I was incredibly disappointed. I know for a fact we did everything we could to try, and so I don’t think there’s an issue with our effort or the efforts of the other pro teams in town. We worked closely with a bunch of the different constituencies involved in trying to put together a framework for a bill that we thought would work. And we ultimately couldn’t even get that bill voted on.”
He added, “There’s so much illegal sports betting going on in the state of Georgia that we have to bring that out of the shadows and regulate that. I suppose it’s mostly disappointing because this is something whose day and time should have come already. At some point in time, I think logic should prevail in this. And at this point in time, it hasn’t.”
