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Anyone who’s spent enough time on this website knows the deal with Georgia sports betting: it’s gone nowhere ever since 2018. That’s the year legal sports betting began sweeping across the country.
No one expected the state of Georgia to be first, not when it’s historically been very conservative. But at the same time, few would’ve predicted that seven years later, it would be one of 11 states without any form of legal sports betting. Heck, the state is still holding out on casino gambling too.
That’s why the news coming out Georgia is shocking: lawmakers are “studying” the legalization of it — both in sports and casino form. There’s an entire committee dedicated to this, called the House Study Committee on Gaming in the State of Georgia. It met at the tail-end of July to discuss the matter.
It’s believed the committee will meet all fall when NFL betting — and all the revenue that comes from it — is in peak form. The idea is they’ll draw some hard conclusions and be ready to move the issue forward come the 2026 legislative session. Whether that does or doesn’t happen remains to be seen, but honestly, just the fact there’s a committee and there’s discussions this early means something. Let’s examine what’s going on and the issue at-hand.
Casinos Dominate the Early Conversation
Much of the chatter during the committee’s first meeting revolved around the possibility of destination-style casinos in Georgia — a shift that would require not just legislative action, but also a constitutional amendment.
Of course, this is not the first time this has been floated. In the years past, there was a bill kicked around that would’ve brought six casinos to the state. The bill never passed, but it did gain some ground early on.
EchoPark Speedway President Ed Clark made headlines by saying his group is ready to build a resort casino near Atlanta Motor Speedway if the state gives them the green light. That’s an obvious move, isn’t? There’s certainly plenty of room to build something big in that part of the city, not like downtown, which is already crowded.
Sports Betting Is In Background (For Now)
While casino gambling garnered the early discussion, we do expect sports betting to get some love sooner rather than later. If done right, this is the bigger opportunity for tax dollars. Across the country, legal sports betting — if done via online apps — blows casinos out of the water.
Rep. Marcus Wiedower, who’s been one of the few consistent voices pushing for regulation, made it clear that his focus is on giving structure to an industry that already exists in the shadows. What he’s referring to is, of course, offshore betting. These sites thrive in Georgia cause they work perfectly fine — all while not paying any taxes to the state.
Wiedower, however, would also be referring to prediction markets. In the last year, sites like Polymarket and Kalshi, have caught fire. Like offshore sites, they work perfectly fine in non-legalized states such as Georgia.
The point is: people in Georgia are betting. That’s why Wiedower wants to regulate it and help the state get something instead of nothing. Earlier this year, Wiedower sponsored a bill that would’ve created an entire system for sports betting in Georgia, including 16 licenses and a so-so 24-percent tax rate. Alongside it, he filed a resolution to put the issue to a public vote via constitutional amendment — because in Georgia, that’s what it takes.
That amendment is still alive going into the 2026 session, but here’s the catch: even if everything goes perfectly from here, voters wouldn’t get to weigh in until November 2026 at the earliest. So don’t expect a legal betting market to launch before 2027. That’s a long way off in an industry that moves at warp speed elsewhere.
A Divided Legislature Can’t Close the Deal
This is far from Georgia’s first run at sports betting. Year after year, some version of a legalization bill gets kicked around. Sometimes it gets through one chamber. Sometimes it fizzles out before the crossover deadline like it did this past March. The result is always the same: nothing.
The main problem? Lack of unity among lawmakers. Some want mobile-only betting. Others insist on pairing it with brick-and-mortar casinos or horse racing. Some want to route revenue to education. Others want it to shore up health care. The disagreements pile up, and eventually the whole thing collapses under its own weight.
And it’s not just the lawmakers who are split — the chambers are too. The House and Senate have never been on the same page, and until they are, any real progress is unlikely.
Voters Are Already On Board
You know who’s not divided though? Georgia voters. There’s multiple data points showing they’re on board with betting.
For one, a University of Georgia survey found that 63 percent of voters support sports betting legalization. Even more telling: GeoComply reported a 101 percent year-over-year increase in Georgia-based accounts trying to access legal sportsbooks during the 2024 NFL season.
And that’s the part lawmakers can’t afford to ignore anymore. The demand is there. The tax money potential is there. And now, with a study committee actively meeting, the political will might finally be catching up. We will have to see…
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