Gambling recommendations on hold in Georgia
A Senate panel in Georgia was supposed to make recommendations on a gambling expansion measure but decided to put it on hold.
US.- A committee from Georgia was expected to make recommendations to the chamber on a gambling expansion measure, but decided this week to put them on hold as a consensus couldn’t be reached.
State Senator Brandon Beach said that he was in favour of delaying the approval of the recommendations until panel members could reach an agreement, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The recommendation was supposed to be made to allow casinos, sports betting or horse racing in the state.
We just weren’t ready to vote,” Beach said. “So I decided to hold off. We’ve got time. We’re going to talk about it in the next (Senate Republican) caucus meeting we have — it’ll be a priority.”
State Senator Bill Cowsert, who had opposed gambling in the past and is now open to new revenue possibilities, explained that the panel failed to reach a consensus on how to present the question of expanded gambling to local voters.
Beach added that he is interested in the legislature approving putting a constitutional amendment to Georgia voters to allow them to consider all three forms of gambling. He said that some committee members wish voters to consider the three separately.
Last month, Sandra Roose, with the Valdosta-Lowndes County Conference Center and Tourism Authority, said that gambling could “grow the economy in the community.” She added that it improves quality of life through business revenues and the local taxes that they drive. “That, in turn, gets spent in our community and benefits our citizens.”
