The Georgia Senate Rules Committee recently voted 5-2 to approve Senate Resolution 84, which would allow up to three horseracing tracks in the state. State Senator Brandon Beach, the bill’s sponsor said this was the first a Senate committee passed the proposal. “It’s a big step. I feel real good about it,” Beach said.
The measure would require a statewide referendum asking voters if betting on horseraces should be legal. In addition, Senate Bill 45 would create a Georgia Horse Racing Commission to approve up to three licenses and regulate the facilities.
Beach said the racetracks would offer a variety of attractions and amenities, like the Atlanta Braves’ SunTrust Park. “Rural Georgia will benefit from this. There’s horse farms, hay farms, breeding and auctions. It will create thousands of jobs,” he said.
In the past, legislators proposed legalizing racinos. But Beach said this year the measure focuses specifically on horseracing to attract the 80,000 horses that travel from Florida’s tracks to Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky.
Georgia Baptist Convention Lobbyist Mike Griffin called the measure a “Trojan horse.” He said, “Those who are proposing it misunderstand what gambling is. This is not just people sitting around drinking wine, eating cheese and watching horses.” But Senate Rules Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis Georgia voters approved a lottery 27 years ago. “This is all about jobs because gambling is already legal in Georgia,” Mullis said.
Meanwhile, separate measures recently introduced in the House and Senate propose a constitutional amendment allowing voters decide whether casino gambling should be legal in the state, to “preserve the long-term financial stability of the HOPE scholarship” and other education programs. Governor Brian Kemp has said he’s against gambling; however, his spokesman recently said Kemp “remains opposed to casino gambling but hardworking Georgians will have the ultimate say if a constitutional amendment is placed on the ballot.”
This year, rather than proposing “destination resort facilities,” gambling advocates are supporting a broad constitutional amendment that would legalize casinos but leave the details until later. Since the measure is a constitutional amendment, it would not require Kemp’s signature but rather a two-thirds vote in the legislature and the approval of a majority of voters.
The measure’s supporters said legal casinos could create thousands of jobs, attract billions of dollars in investments and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the HOPE program, which funds college scholarships and pre-kindergarten classes.
