A recent Georgia Southern University study shows building three horseracing tracks around the state could have an economic impact of $1.28 billion and create more than 8,500 new jobs. In testimony to the Senate Regulated Industries Committee, state Senator Jeff Mullis, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and author of a bill legalizing horseracing in the state, said, “I believe it will be good for Georgia, and it will help Georgia, and you never know what could be connected, a horse hall of fame in Macon, or rural health care or HOPE scholarships or other things. But the main thing is it will provide lots of jobs, good jobs, not ill-repute jobs, but good jobs for people of Georgia.”
Ben McKay, assistant director of research at Georgia Southern’s Center for Business Analytics and Economic Research, which conducted the study, noted Georgia’s equestrian industry already contributes $545.5 million and 7,212 jobs to the state economy. He said, “The Georgia horse industry is already strong. All horseracing will do is help to make it stronger and to become a bigger part of the agricultural industry. Really, this industry works with parimutuel betting to make it more exciting.”
Gambling is illegal in Georgia, except for bingo, raffles and the Georgia Lottery, which funds the HOPE Scholarship and pre-kindergarten programs. The state constitution specifically outlaws parimutuel betting; as a result, a constitutional amendment, requiring a two-thirds vote in both legislative chambers, the governor’s approval and a voter referendum, would be necessary.
One of the proposed bills would allow historical horseracing machines. State Senator Billy Hickman said, “Whereas slot machines are random number generator winners, these machines are based on 100,000 prior horseraces.” State Senator Bill Cowsert, chair of the Regulated Industries Committee, responded, “They look like them and sound like them and cost the same and pay out the same, they just calculate what’s going to come up on the dial by an algorithm that fed in 100,000 previous races?” Hickman answered, “That’s correct.” Cowsert said, “So if you were an autistic savant genius and knew the winner of every race in the history of sports racing, that would not help you win or lose on these machines?” Hickman said,
“I don’t know the answer to that.”
