Georgia sports betting will continue to be confined to illegal offshore sportsbooks and underground bookies as state lawmakers in the Atlanta capital chose not to vote on a sports gambling bill for yet another session. 

Thursday night was the cutoff for bills in the Georgia General Assembly to move from one chamber to another. House Bill 686, a measure to permit retail and mobile sports betting via an expansion of the Georgia Lottery, along with House Resolution 450, which aimed to present the matter to voters, both failed after not receiving a complete vote on the House floor.

"It came in late and I guess [lawmakers] just weren’t there yet,” said Rep. Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta), who chairs the Higher Education Committee where both measures were forwarded to the full House late Thursday evening. “We’ll keep working with people and trying to do what’s in the best interest of the state.”

What’s not beneficial for residents is the ongoing necessity to rely on illegal sports betting operations to place wagers on Georgia’s cherished pro and college sports teams. 

Advocates for legal sports betting argue that gambling on sports is already occurring in Georgia via offshore online gambling sites and local bookmakers. Those oddsmakers, nonetheless, offer no consumer safeguards like assurances that their winning wagers will be compensated and responsible gambling measures. 

Georgia Sports Wagering Sector 

Wagering on sports is permitted in 39 states and Washington, DC. The other 11 states encounter challenges to enter the market that grew quickly after the US Supreme Court’s May 2018 overturn of a federal law restricting single-game sports betting to Nevada. 

Numerous prominent nonsports betting states face opposition from conservative, religious groups. This holds true in Georgia, where influential Baptist lobbyists appear to have persuaded their GOP representatives during another legislative session to oppose new types of gambling, which in 2025, included plans to legalize commercial casinos and iGaming. 

Georgia, like California and Texas, is viewed by legal sportsbooks as a primary legislative focus. With a population exceeding 11 million and ranking as the eighth-most populous state, GeoComply, a leader in mobile gaming geolocation, estimates that Georgia could generate over $110 million each year in state tax revenue from legalized sports betting. GeoComply reported in January that over 300,000 online sports betting accounts are associated with Georgia residents who go to nearby Tennessee and Florida to make their mobile bets. 

Georgians Desire Sports Wagering 

Multiple surveys conducted in the last year indicate that a significant majority of Georgians believe sports betting ought to be legalized and regulated. 

In January, a survey by the University of Georgia indicated that 63% of registered voters favor permitting adults to wager on sports. Over half (54%) indicated that their backing considered the reality that Georgians are presently crossing state borders or utilizing unlawful betting avenues to engage. 

An additional 15% indicated they would favor the state permitting sports betting if all related tax income would be directed to educational programs like the HOPE scholarship initiative currently funded by the Georgia Lottery. 

HOPE — Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally — offers scholarships, grants, and loans for students pursuing higher education at public and private state universities, as well as public technical colleges. Since its founding in 1993, HOPE has offered over $14 billion in financial aid.