Georgia Session Ends With No Sports Betting Legislation

• Georgia’s legislative session has come to a close and the two sports betting bills were not voted on.
• With the no vote, betting will not be added to the 2022 ballot, pushing back regulated sportsbooks until at least 2025.

ATLANTA – Georgia residents awaiting the regulated market will, unfortunately, have to wait longer as the legislative session ended with no votes taking place on the two bills.

Sports betting in Georgia will have to remain unregulated until 2025 at the earliest as the 2022 ballot will not see a sports betting bill.

The 2024 election is the next time residents could vote on sports betting should a bill make it before that deadline.

Georgia Sports Betting Set Back

Georgia lawmakers surprisingly announced SB 142 and SR 135 with the goal of having one of these two bills pass in both the Senate and House.

The bills were announced last week, so things were on a tight schedule from the jump to meet the session deadline.

While it initially appeared that optimism was surrounding the bills, the limited time to discuss the bills came back to haunt them with the no vote.

Missed Opportunity

With sports betting striking out yet again in Georgia, the market continues to miss out on the potential revenue stream from legal sports betting.

Georgia’s northern neighbors in Tennessee and North Carolina both have active betting markets, with Tennessee, in particular, running a mobile-only market.

Tennessee can see more than $300 million in betting handle and $20 million in revenue any given month. The Volunteer state has a population of around 6.8 million compared to Georgia’s 10.6 million.

Additionally, Georgia’s proximity to unregulated markets like Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina would make it a prime location for traveling bettors.

Now that the session ended with a no vote, however, Georgia will continue to miss out on potential millions monthly in sports betting revenue.

News tags: Atlanta | Georgia | SB 142 | SR 135