More than two months before the start of 2024 state legislative sessions, it appears that stakeholders, pundits, and anyone else with an interest in legal sports betting is pinning their hopes on Georgia, the biggest state with potential to legalize next year.
In mid-October, a contingent from Entain visited with Georgia lawmakers in an effort to begin crafting a wagering bill that could pass the legislature in a state that has struggled to come to a consensus for at least three years. The closest call was in 2021 with a bill that would have allowed statewide mobile betting, but the effort was quashed when the Democrats pulled support over separate issues with the state’s voting rights bill.
Since then, lawmakers have been debating the same issues — whether to allow betting on college sports; whether legalization requires a constitutional amendment that voters must pass; and where the state’s share of revenue from wagering would be directed. None have been solved, and without compromises being reached, it’s hard to see how Georgia will move forward.
There does appear to be support in Georgia for legal betting. The state’s professional sports teams have formed a coalition pushing for it, and at least one survey has shown that residents support the idea.