To a round of applause, Georgia general assembly speaker Jon Burns called the session to an end about an hour before the 11.59pm local legislative deadline on crossover day. A package of sports betting bills – a constitutional amendment and a framework bill – weren’t among those called for a vote Thursday.
A senate committee previously deferred its package of wagering bills. Because the issue didn’t get sent from one chamber to the other, it is dead for the 2025 session.
Nearly seven years after the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned, making legal sports betting a states’ rights issue, 39 US states have legalised. Still more are considering it this year.
The Hawaii house passed a digital-only sports betting bill on 4 March. The same day, house lawmakers in Mississippi, where retail sports betting has been live since 2018, passed a bill to add online wagering. The issue could get hung up in the senate in both states.
A Minnesota senate committee failed to move two sports betting bills forward in February. Before the legislative season opened, stakeholders pointed to Minnesota and Georgia as the states with the best shot at legalising. Wagering or gambling bills that include sports betting are still on the table in Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. And Alabama lawmakers remain hopeful that a gambling expansion will get discussion there, although no bills have been filed.
Two bills would have had to pass
The Georgia framework bill, HB 686, was approved for a possible floor vote during the rules committee’s third meeting Thursday. HR 450 was approved during the committee’s fourth meeting. Both were among a flurry of bills lawmakers were trying to rush to the floor to beat the deadline for passage.
Neither wagering bill was called for a vote during the evening floor session and both would have had to pass for the issue to have a chance of reaching voters. The proposals were filed just a week ago.
An amended version of the framework bill passed through the higher education committee on Wednesday. That committee agreed to increase the proposed tax rate to 24% from 20% in the original bill. The committee voted down an amendment, meanwhile, that would have allowed for legal igaming.
The package of bills would have legalised only digital sports betting. HR 450 would have put a referendum on the November 2026 ballot for voters to decide whether to approve the new gambling. HB 686 would have created an open, competitive marketplace with the Georgia Lottery Corporation as the regulator.
Georgia’s professional sports teams plus Augusta National Golf Club, Atlanta Speedway and the PGA Tour were named as eligible for licences. In addition, seven stand-alone licences would have been available. The lottery also would have been able to have a digital betting platform.
Education would have received tax dollars
Moving sports betting legislation in Georgia has been a struggle for many years, dating to 2021. That year, the state’s Democrats withheld votes on a legal betting bill in retaliation for the Republicans pushing through a redistricting bill.
Since then, there has been no consensus on what legal wagering should look like in the state. There has been much discussion of whether a constitutional amendment is needed to legalise and where funding should go.
All of the proposals filed in 2025 – including the package that a senate committee killed – included a constitutional amendment. Throughout the committee process, problem and responsible gambling advocates testified passionately in opposition. Lawmakers, meanwhile, never seemed sold on introducing gambling to their state.
The legislature does seem to favour sending any future gambling tax dollars to educational programmes. In particular, HB 686 would have funded universal pre-K programmes and HOPE scholarships. Both will have to wait at least another year.
If it had legalised, Georgia would have become the fifth-biggest US sports betting market by population.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/sports-betting/online-sports-betting/georgia-sports-betting-legislation-dies-2025/
