Georgia Fails to Vote on Sports Betting Bills Before Deadline
After a week of intense deliberations and late-night sessions, efforts to legalize sports betting in Georgia came to an abrupt end late Thursday, March 6, as the House failed to take action before the legislative deadline.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:With a round of applause, Georgia General Assembly Speaker Jon Burns officially ended the session roughly an hour before the 11:59 p.m. crossover day deadline. A proposed package of sports betting bills, including a constitutional amendment and a regulatory framework, never made it to the floor for a vote.
Earlier, a Senate committee had already deferred its own set of sports wagering bills. Since neither chamber advanced legislation to the other, sports betting is now off the table for Georgia in 2025.
Georgia Misses Out as Other States Push Forward
A total of 39 U.S. states have now moved forward with legalization of sports betting and a number of other states are making progress. On March 4, Hawaii’s House passed a bill to introduce digital-only sports betting, while Mississippi lawmakers approved a measure to add online wagering to the state’s existing retail sports betting market. However, both bills could face hurdles in their respective Senates.
Minnesota also recently failed in its efforts to legalize sports betting. A Senate committee failed to advance two related bills in February, despite early optimism that both Minnesota and Georgia were among the states most likely to legalize this year.
In the meantime, sports betting and gambling-related bills are still being debated in Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, and Alabama legislators remain hopeful for a gambling expansion.
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Georgia Bills Faced Last-Minute Challenges
Georgia’s sports betting framework bill, HB 686, had cleared the rules committee earlier in the day, as had HR 450, a bill to amend the state constitution. Both were part of a push to get legislation to the House floor before the deadline.
Despite these efforts, neither bill was called for a vote during the evening session. Both would have needed approval to move forward and ultimately be presented to voters. The proposals had only been introduced a week earlier, which left little time for debate.
An amended version of HB 686 passed through the higher education committee on Wednesday, which approved a tax rate increase from 20% to 24%. However, an amendment to allow for broader online gambling was rejected.
The proposed legislation would have legalized only digital sports betting, with HR 450 aiming to put the matter on the November 2026 ballot for voters. HB 686 sought to establish a competitive, open-market system regulated by the Georgia Lottery Corporation. Licenses would have been awarded to Georgia’s professional sports teams, Augusta National Golf Club, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the PGA Tour, along with seven stand-alone licenses. The state lottery would also have had the option to operate its own digital betting platform.
Had Georgia moved forward with legalization, it would have become the fifth-largest sports betting market in the U.S. based on population.
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