Georgia sports betting bill advances out of Senate committee
Senate Bill 386 has advanced been approved by the Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee.
US.- The Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee voted 8-2 to advance Senate Bill 386. The legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would legalise sports betting under the lottery and would not require a constitutional amendment. In this way, the bill differs from from SB 172, which is also moving forward in the Senate.
The bill would create 16 licences, with eight tethered to Georgia sports organisations, seven open licences and a licence for the Georgia Lottery. Those licences would require a $100,000 application fee and an annual licence fee of $1m. Each licensee could partner with one sports betting operator.
The licences would be awarded to professional sports franchises Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Dream and Atlanta United as well as the Augusta National, NASCAR’s Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Georgia Lottery. The Georgia Lottery would award the remaining licences to companies.
Under the version of the bill that advanced on Tuesday, 20 per cent of revenue would go toward scholarships for higher education and pre-K funded by the Georgia Lottery.
Several bills aiming to legalise sports betting or other types of gambling failed during the 2023 session.
