- Lawmakers in Georgia pushed two bills forward from a House committee to introduce legal sports betting
- One bill would have put Georgia sports betting up for a statewide vote in late 2026
- Both bills failed to make it past the House chamber before last week’s Crossover Day deadline
Georgia fails to move forward with legalized sports betting in 2025, leaving further discussions off the table until 2026.
Last week, bettors were given some hope as a committee inside the State House of Representatives approved legislation that would have allowed voters in Georgia to decide the fate of sports betting. The legislation cleared on Wednesday and could’ve given voters the decision to come through a 2026 statewide ballot.
The full House chamber concluded their session Thursday night, and despite setting a record for passing 75 bills, failed to bring two sports betting bills up for a vote. Thursday, March 6 was the Crossover Day deadline for bills to pass through their chamber of origin, so in this case from the House to the Senate. The lack of progression ices the topic until at least next year.
The statewide vote would not have taken place until November 2026. Therefore, any form of legalized Georgia sports betting was unlikely to be a reality until some time in 2027. The timing allows for the option to revisit sports betting next year if new bills are brought forward from either the House or Senate.
Should similar bills ever reach a referendum vote, it’s expected Peach State voters would vote in favor of legalized sports betting. A recent poll in December 2024 by the University of Georgia and Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, found that 63% of voters support allowing sports betting.
Recent Georgian Bills Included State Vote and Guidelines
The two Georgia Sports Betting Bills brought to the House chamber included House Resolution 450 (HR 450) and House Bill 686 (HB 686).
HR 450 sought to allow for a general vote in 2026.
HB 686, outlined how legal Georgia sports betting could operate and benefit the state, calling for the Georgia Lottery Corporation to administer sports betting. Sixteen licenses would have become available and awarded as follows:
- 1 to the Georgia Lottery Corporation
- 5 to in-state professional sports franchises that have expressed interest
- 7 awarded by a bidding process to online sportsbooks
- 1 to the PGA Tour
- 1 to Augusta National Golf Club
- 1 to Atlanta Speedway
The fees were set to be a $100,000 application fee, plus a licensing fee of $1 million.
A tax rate of 24%, up from 20% originally, was proposed to raise funds for Georgia’s pre-kindergarten program and HOPE scholarships. Of the initial $150 million raised from tax revenue, 15% would also have gone towards creating support tools for problem gambling addiction.
Earlier Sports Betting Bills in Georgia Have Also Fizzled Out
This isn’t the first time sports betting bills have fizzled out on the chamber floor. Earlier in 2025 the Georgia Senate created similar legislation in SR 131 and failed to get it across the line. In 2024, the Senate did advance sports betting bills to the House (SB 208), where the package ultimately fell apart.
Currently, 39 states regulate some form of sports betting, including several neighboring Georgian states like Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. With no regulated sports betting currently within Georgia, offshore Georgia betting sites remain an available option for sports bettors in the Peach State to bet on their favorite teams.
