Sports gambling continues to be a hot-button issue within the state of Georgia as the 2024 legislative session draws to a close on March 28th. With just over a week to go, the House continues its discussions on the measures that would legalize online sports betting.
To help understand what is happening and what could be coming next, Georgia State Representative Marcus Wiedower (R-121st) joined The Steakhouse. They discussed the future of sports gambling in the state and whether or not it could be legalized in the coming months.
"Listen, it's a debate," Wiedower said about sports gambling legislation. "So, let's just put it to the voters and let them decide whether or not [sports gambling] is going to happen."
In summary, the purpose of SR 579 is to offer an amendment to the Georgia Constitution to authorize the Georgia General Assembly to provide general law for sports betting within the state. By legalizing the act of sports betting in Georgia via this method, the legislature would then be free to determine what they could fund with the added tax revenue.
In a similar move more than 30 years ago, the Georgia Lottery was created in an amendment back in 1992 and was utilized to fuel pre-kindergarten and HOPE Scholarship programs in the state.
According to Wiedower, SR 579 would send an additional $100 - $150 million to these programs in the first year alone.
"These are tax dollars that we can absolutely be using right now for educational purposes," he said. "Again, we put it under the Georgia Lottery and let them regulate it. It's already stated in code where those dollars can be spent, and that's HOPE and Pre-K."
As it currently stands, SR 579 sits in committee within the House of Representatives awaiting its turn on the floor later this week. Then, for this amendment to reach the voters in November it needs a two-thirds majority (120 votes) when it does arrive for vote in the House -- it already passed out of the Georgia Senate with the required three-fifths majority in February.
Wiedower says the biggest reason that this resolution should pass through is as a means to protect the sports gambling that is already happening in Georgia.
"They're using VPNs, they're circumventing the geofencing that is currently in place to keep people from doing that here. And they're doing it across state lines, they're doing it on the black market," Wiedower said. "Listen, there are 38 states that do this, and we are handing tax dollars to those states that are welcoming this because people are engaged in this whether anybody likes it or not!"