ATLANTA — A Georgia Senate committee is expected to vote next week on a sports betting bill.
Gambling bills have appeared for years at the Capitol but think this one could actually pass this year.
Backers argue that sports gambling is already happening in Georgia – but because the state hasn’t legalized it, the state isn’t collecting any revenue from it.
"How many of you in here bet on the Super Bowl the other night? Well, I did. I had to bet in an outlet in Tennessee in order to do it," state Sen. Billy Hickman (R-Statesboro) told senators during a committee hearing Tuesday.
Hickman told the committee that the state can pass a sports gambling bill without asking voters to approve it as part of a constitutional amendment. Such amendments require a two-thirds majority of the legislature, then voters statewide would have to approve it.
But backers say they think sports gambling wouldn’t require a constitutional amendment and could become law with majority votes in the House and Senate, plus the governor’s signature.
Gambling backers want to piggyback a new sports betting bill onto the Georgia lottery – which Georgia voters approved three decades ago.
"The people in 1992 did not legalize what you're trying to do today. That’s not what they had in their mind," said Mike Griffin, a gambling critic with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
Critics predicted a gambling bill with no constitutional amendment could pass the legislature as a state statute but would fail in a court challenge.
"Gambling statutes are going to lose in court," attorney Joe Kent told the committee. "And with respect, will be embarrassing (to the state)."
The Senate committee is expected to approve the sports betting bill next week. History shows its odds of actually becoming law is a longshot.
