ATLANTA — The state Senate began debate Tuesday on legislation that would legalize betting on sports in Georgia — including horse racing — without the potential pitfall of requiring a constitutional amendment.
Senate Bill 57 would allow sports betting both online and in person at kiosks that could be located inside a range of businesses, including sports venues. The program would be overseen by the Georgia Lottery Corp.
“By running this through the lottery, there’s not a constitutional amendment required,” Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, the bill’s chief sponsor, told members of the Senate Economic Development & Tourism Committee Tuesday. “Sports betting is deemed a lottery game.”
Like a second sports betting bill introduced in the state House of Representatives on Monday, the Senate measure would not require a constitutional amendment to become law, based on a recent legal opinion from former Georgia Chief Justice Harold Melton that a constitutional change is unnecessary.
Constitutional amendments must gain a two-thirds majority vote in the Georgia House and Senate, a requirement that has tripped up past efforts to get the legislation through the General Assembly.
What’s different about the Senate legislation is it would legalize all types of sports betting — except high school games and other contests involving competitors under age 18.
It would do that by requiring “fixed-odds” rather than “pari-mutuel” betting. With fixed-odds betting, the odds a bettor places on a sports contest don’t change as the volume of bets increases, Hickman said.
The Georgia Constitution specifically prohibits casino gambling and pari-mutuel betting but not fixed-odds betting, added Josh Belinfante, a lawyer representing the Georgia Horse Racing Coalition. Thus, the Senate bill does not need a constitutional amendment,…
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