by Dave Williams | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – For more than a decade, supporters of legalizing gambling in Georgia have pitched casinos, pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, and – more recently – sports betting to the General Assembly but come up snake eyes.
But gaming industry lobbyists and their legislative allies believe 2026 could be different because Georgia faces several daunting financial challenges that legalized gambling could help address.
Spending cuts in the budget bill President Donald Trump steered through the Republican-controlled Congress in early July will slash billions of dollars in federal aid to states for vital services including education, health care, and social services.
Under the Gold Dome, Georgia lawmakers are considering eliminating the state income tax, which supplies more than half of the state’s revenues. There’s even a push for Georgia to join 48 other states in establishing a need-based college scholarships program.
“They all know they have to figure out a way to bring more money to Georgia,” said Rick Lackey, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based City Commercial Real Estate, who is backing several proposed casino resorts around the state. “They’ve got to find the money somewhere.”
The enthusiasm for legalizing gambling in Georgia was on full display Aug. 25 when a parade of casino and sportsbooks executives and consultants went before a state House study committee during a hearing that lasted nearly six hours.
Two legislative measures legalizing gambling in the Peach State are before the General Assembly for consideration, both covering sports betting but not casinos. House Resolution 450 is a constitutional amendment that would put sports betting before voters in a statewide referendum in November 2026, while House Bill 686 is an “enabling” bill spelling out details on how sports betting would operate in Georgia.
While the two measures made it through House committees this year, neither reached the floor of the House let alone moved to the state Senate.
Georgia lawmakers don’t have to look far for an example of sports betting. The North Carolina legislature passed a sports betting bill two years ago, which took effect last year, allowing both online betting and three retail sportsbooks.
During its first year, sports betting generated $116 million in tax revenue for the Tar Heel State, far outpacing projections, Jason Saine, a former North Carolina state representative, told members of the study committee.
“Georgia could see similar surges,” he said. “Our states are very similar. The population is very similar.”
Tennessee legalized sports betting back in 2019 but limited it to online wagering. Last year, sports betting yielded $97.1 million in tax revenue to the state, a figure projected to increase to $108.7 million this year, said Tom Lee, former vice chairman of the Tennessee Sports Wagering Council.
Saine said the North Carolina bill also legalized pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, but it has yet to take off. The horse racing industry has been on the decline in recent years due in part to animal welfare concerns.
Saine said North Carolina lawmakers decided not to include casinos in their bill, conceding casino gambling is more difficult to pass.
But casinos make a lot more money than sports betting. Slot machines and table games generated nearly $50 billion last year nationwide compared to $13.8 billion from sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association.
The more than 40 states with land-based casinos generated $16 billion in taxes in 2024, said Josh Swissman, founding partner and managing director of GMA Consulting, a leading gaming industry consultant with offices in Las Vegas and Denver.
Casinos also create a lot more jobs than sports betting. The typical casino generates about 1,700 jobs, while the larger casinos can create up to 10,000 jobs, Swissman said.
A key argument casino supporters have long used is that states without legalized betting lose tax revenue when their residents head to neighboring states that have casinos. Georgians travel north to tribal casinos in North Carolina, west to their counterparts in Alabama or south to Florida.
“Casinos serve as a great mechanism to capture consumer spending that might otherwise cross state borders to adjacent states or beyond,” Swissman said. “They also do a great job of attracting out-of-state residents with out-of-state dollars.”
A major reason legalized gambling legislation has failed to make headway in the General Assembly is opposition from faith-based groups.
Joseph D’Angelo, director of the church ambassador network for Frontline Policy Council, told the House study committee legalized gambling contributes to crime, while gambling addiction destroys families.
“Domestic violence, child neglect, bankruptcy, and crime all increase when gambling expands,” he said. “For every $1 state governments collect in gambling revenue, taxpayers spend $3 to $5 addressing the societal fallout.”
But several witnesses who testified at the Aug. 25 hearing pushed back on that argument. Jay Albanese, a criminology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said most studies have found casinos have no impact on local crime rates.
“The average age of casino patrons is 32,” he said. “These people do not commit street crimes. They are not considered to be a high-risk group.”
Jeremy Kudon, president of the Sports Betting Alliance, which includes Draft Kings, FanDuel and several other major sports betting operators, said gambling addiction rates across the U.S. have held steady at 1%, compared to 7% for alcohol addiction and 70% for those hooked on tobacco products.
Kudon said legal sportsbooks do a far better job of policing wagering than overseas illegal operators players turn to in states that don’t allow sports betting.
“They don’t care whether a customer is 21 or over,” he said. “They don’t care if the customer is on the verge of bankruptcy or addiction.”
Legalized gambling advocates also argue that supporting casinos and/or sports betting is not political suicide for state legislators.
“None of the people who supported sports betting (in North Carolina), who voted for it and were on the bill as sponsors, lost their primary or general election,” Saine said. “It wasn’t even an issue.”
Georgia lawmakers who back legalized gambling have the additional cover of arguing they are only voting indirectly on the issue. Since any move to bring casinos or sports betting to the Peach State would require a constitutional amendment, the issue ultimately would be in the hands of voters.
“This is not something that will cost (legislators) seats,” Kudon said. “Let’s give Georgians the right to choose.”
