ATLANTA – The coin-operated amusement machines (COAM) business in Georgia has been thriving since the Georgia Lottery Corp. took over regulating the industry in 2013, Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin said Wednesday.
Georgians spent more than $3 billion during the last fiscal year playing the machines, mostly at convenience stores and restaurants across the state, Corbin told members of a Georgia Senate study committee at its kickoff meeting.
After players redeemed prizes valued at $2.1 billion, that left more than $900 million in net revenue for COAM license holders, the businesses housing the games and the lottery to divide.
Under state law, 10% – roughly $91 million – went to the lottery for distribution to Georgia’s HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs, a figure that has grown from $33.5 million just five years ago.
Despite that success, state policy makers see room for improvement, which is where the study committee comes in.
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, the Senate’s presiding officer, appointed four senators and five industry representatives to the committee last month.
“This committee was specifically appointed to review the current regulatory scheme of bona fide coin-operated amusement machines enforced by the Georgia Lottery,” Duncan said in a statement. “This committee will take a comprehensive look at the COAM industry to ensure that we protect legitimate businesses, while providing guidelines for the Georgia Lottery to oversee this industry and ensure compliance with the law.”
A complaint with the industry senators on the committee cited Wednesday was the awarding of cash to winners, which is prohibited. Legal prizes under the law include lottery tickets, gasoline and in-store merchandise, but not cash.
Corbin said a pilot project the lottery launched recently allows winners to receive a COAM gift card.
“It could provide for a smarter transaction between the customer and the machine, so people will play it more,” she said.
“That may be a way to clean up in the industry,” added Sen. Larry Walker III, R-Perry.
Corbin said her goal for getting the best data from the pilot project is to widely distribute the gift-card option geographically. She also wants to offer gift cards both in stores that sell a lot of lottery tickets and in those with poor sales.
“We’re really trying to be as inclusive as possible,” she said.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-Macon, the study committee’s chairman, responded to complaints from representatives of businesses housing the machines that the panel is top-heavy with executives from the vendors that provide them.
It was simply a matter of the vendors stepping up first and volunteering to serve on the committee, Kennedy said.
“There is no effort to stack the committee,” he said. “We’re going to make sure going forward that the locations are heard.”
The committee is due to hold two more meetings. Its deadline for recommendations is Dec. 1.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Republican Party joined the Republican National Committee Tuesday in appealing a federal court decision requiring the counting of absentee ballots received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross ruled last month that mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day must be counted if they arrive by 7 p.m. on Nov. 6. Under current law, absentee ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
“Democrats have filed a barrage of frivolous lawsuits to eliminate safeguards, sow confusion and upend the timely and accurate counting of votes,” state GOP Chairman David Shafer said Tuesday. “They cry ‘voter suppression’ but ignore the fact that an unlawful vote cancels out and ‘suppresses’ a lawful vote as completely as if the lawful voter was physically turned away from the polling place.”
But Democrats say Ross’ Aug. 31 ruling was an attempt to calm concerns over the reliability of absentee voting amid the coronavirus pandemic rather than add to the confusion.
“All Georgians deserve to have their voice heard,” Georgia Democratic Chairwoman Nikema Williams said following Ross’ decision. “It is the responsibility of our democracy to make voting by mail and early-voting options as accessible as possible.”
The voter registration group New Georgia Project brought the lawsuit in May against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Ross agreed the deadline for accepting mail-in ballots should be extended but dismissed other claims sought in the case, including bids to waive postage for absentee ballots and to require Raffensperger’s office to mail absentee-ballot applications to all Georgia voters, as occurred for the June 9 primary.
The plaintiffs also lost a bid to extend the absentee ballot receipt deadline by five days, which Ross shortened to three days.
In her decision, Ross stated that while courts are reluctant to interfere with the legal requirements governing elections, “the burden on many voters will be severe” if absentee ballots that arrive shortly after Election Day are rejected, even if they were postmarked on Election Day.
A brief the Republicans filed Tuesday calls on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay Ross’s ruling until the full appeal can be heard.
A planned extension will take the Silver Comet Trail east of I-285 for the first time.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Board of Natural Resources signed off Tuesday on a plan to extend the popular Silver Comet Trail in Cobb County.
Board members unanimously approved agreements with Cobb County, the state Department of Transportation and the Forest Park-based nonprofit PATH Foundation to add 2.3 miles onto the eastern end of the trail, taking it inside the Interstate 285 perimeter for the first time.
The Silver Comet Trail runs for 61.5 miles along an abandoned rail line from Smyrna west through Cobb, Paulding and Polk counties to the Georgia/Alabama line. The paved trail is used primarily for biking and hiking.
The new extension ultimately will allow the trail to connect with the Atlanta Beltline. To accomplish that aim, another extension will be needed to cross the Chattahoochee River.
The PATH Foundation has agreed to build the extension at no cost to the state, Steve Friedman, chief of real estate for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), told board members Tuesday. Cobb County will operate and maintain the new section of the trail, he said.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of next year, Friedman said.
ATLANTA – Georgians are one step closer to being able to order home deliveries of beer, wine and distilled spirits.
The state Department of Revenue has issued rules governing home deliveries of alcohol based on legislation the General Assembly passed in June.
Interested liquor stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants will have to demonstrate to the revenue department they can meet the requirements of the new rules and gain the agency’s approval before they can begin offering home deliveries.
The revenue department has published an extensive set of rules governing home deliveries of adult beverages, including the agency’s enforcement powers and requirements for delivery drivers.
“The Department of Revenue has done an outstanding job putting together regulations that prioritize the safe sale, secure transportation and timely delivery of alcohol to residents who are over the age of 21 throughout the state,” said KC Honeyman, executive director of the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers of Georgia.
The bill, which Gov. Brian Kemp signed last month, gives local governments the ability to opt out of home deliveries if they choose.
As the legislation went through the General Assembly, supporters argued legalizing home delivery of alcoholic beverages was particularly timely in the midst of a global pandemic that kept wary Georgians sticking close to home.
Another provision broadens the so-called “Sunday brunch” law the General Assembly passed in 2018 allowing restaurants, hotels and wineries to serve alcoholic beverages on premises starting at 11 a.m. on Sundays. The new law sets the same Sunday hours for sales of liquor by grocery stores for off-premises consumption.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday at age 87.
ATLANTA – Both of Georgia’s U.S. senators are calling for a Senate vote on a successor to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sooner rather than later.
Shortly after Ginsburg died Friday night at age 87 due to complications from pancreatic cancer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would begin the process of filling the vacancy as soon as President Donald Trump makes a nomination, which is expected late this week.
“I am confident that President Trump will nominate another highly qualified candidate who will strictly uphold the Constitution,” Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said during the weekend. “Once the president announces a nomination, the United States Senate should begin the process that moves this to a full Senate vote.”
Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., called for a Senate vote during an appearance Saturday on Fox News.
“We need to bring forward a conservative justice – someone who will be a strict constructionist, who will protect innocent life, who will bring those Second Amendment cases and make sure we’re protecting our right to bear arms in this country,” Loeffler said. “And we need to keep that process moving – regardless of it being an election year.”
Democrats are arguing the decision on the next Supreme Court justice should await the results of the November presidential and Senate elections.
But so far, only two Senate Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – have said they would oppose a Senate vote on Ginsburg’s successor before Election Day.
