There are a lot of people who are not very confident that Georgia will legalize sports betting but things appear to be moving in the right direction.
The House of Representatives’ Economic Development & Tourism Committee has voted in favour of a constitutional amendment 14-6 on March 23.
The constitutional amendment is looking to get voters in Georgia to decide on whether they want legalized sports betting or not.
Earlier this month, the state senate also voted in favour of the constitutional amendment with a 41-10 vote.
The consensus in both the state senate and the House is that over 2 million individuals in Georgia are already engaging in unlicensed sports betting and it is time for the state to legalize sports betting and prevent unlicensed operators from profiting of sports betting illegally.
CBS46 Atlanta
House committee chairman Rep. Ron Stephens told the House that they were not looking to create a new industry. They were only looking to legalize what was already taking place throughout the state illegally and bring in much needed tax dollars to the state coffers.
The constitutional amendment will have to get the approval of the General Assembly before it goes before voters in 2022. The earlier online sports betting bill HB 86 pushed for 16 percent of net proceeds to go to the state but the constitutional amendment is pushing for 20 percent.
From the 20 percent of net proceeds, a total of 40.5 percent will go towards the HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten program, while another 20.5 percent would be allotted for need based scholarships. The constitutional amendment pushes for 12 percent of the proceeds to be used to further broadband deployment in rural areas in the state, 12 percent towards mental health issues and another 12 percent towards health care in rural areas.
Some of the constitutional amendment changes will prevent bettors in Georgia from betting on collegiate sports, not allow sports betting kiosks to be set up for sporting venues and only limit sports betting to online betting.
An enabling bill was also rolled out that looks to regulate sports betting in Georgia. The enabling bill proposes for the Georgia Lottery Corp. to be the betting regulator in the state, that interested operators would pay a non-refundable sports betting application fee and approved operators would pay an annual license fee.
The next step in the process is for the House Rules Committee to review the matter which should take place shortly.
About The Author
