ATLANTA – Georgia House lawmakers pushed long-awaited gambling legislation out the front door Wednesday ahead of a key deadline in this year’s General Assembly session.
Voters statewide would be asked whether casinos, horse racing and sports betting should be legalized in Georgia via an amendment to the state’s constitution. Constitutional amendments need two-thirds approval in both legislative chambers before being put to voters.
A proposal to add that amendment to the Nov. 3 ballot was quietly heard and passed out of the House Regulated Industries Committee Wednesday. The amendment and a separate “enabling” bill formally laying out the ground rules for gambling could head to the House floor for a vote Thursday, the last day for bills in General Assembly to move out of one chamber in time to be considered in the other during this year’s legislative session.
“My perception is I have no problem with people having the right to be heard,” said House Regulated Industries Committee Chairman Alan Powell, R-Hartwell.
The three-part gambling proposal faces a tough road in the General Assembly. Even if it passes the House, top lawmakers in the Georgia Senate have cast serious doubts the proposal could clear their chamber.
A different bill focused only on legalizing sports betting already stalled in the Senate after being filed late last month by Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson.
Gambling aficionados have long urged the state legislature to give voters the final say in whether they want to partake in gaming forms besides just the Georgia Lottery, which sends millions of dollars each year to the popular HOPE scholarship. Detractors call the activity a moral vice that squanders people’s money and family time.
If passed, money taxed from casinos and horse racing would go toward state-funded education, while revenues from sports betting would be reserved for health-care purposes such as potentially expanded insurance coverage.
A new commission would be set up to oversee horse racing and casino activities. The lottery would manage sports betting.
Mike Griffin, the public affairs minister for the Georgia Baptist Ministry, cautioned lawmakers Wednesday against potentially exacerbating addiction and other issues religious groups often attribute to gambling.
“These three being put on there is like a gambling nuclear bomb going off,” Griffin said. “If we’re not careful, it’ll be like on Andy Griffith. We’ll end up cutting the oak tree down that was causing people to come to the town to start with.”
Supporters countered gambling revenues would provide a needed boost for educational initiatives, like the lottery did when it was created in 1992.
“This is an opportunity for economic progress in Georgia,” said Rep. Al Williams, D-Midway. “Everything has a downside. But I remember the arguments against the lottery, which I can’t find anymore.”