A Georgia House committee is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to advance online sports betting legislation to the House Rules Committee, which would determine whether proposals to expand Georgia’s gambling industry makes it to the House floor before the 2024 session wraps up on Thursday.
On Monday, the House Higher Education Committee members spent an hour debating how sports gambling revenue should be spent on education in the event Georgia voters legalize sports betting at the ballot box in the November election.
Scheduled for Wednesday’s higher education agenda are Senate Bill 386, which establishes a framework for a sports gambling industry in Georgia, and Senate Resolution 579, which would set up a constitutional amendment referendum that gives voters the chance to sanction sports gambling in Georgia.
Democratic lawmakers suggested Monday that some of the profits from sports gambling be spent on free school lunches, historically Black colleges and universities and other educational programs. Democratic committee members expressed support for restoring language that prioritized fully funding pre-K classes, which was included in the Senate legislation passed earlier in the session.
Watkinsville Republican Rep. Marcus Wiedower said he has always tried to be transparent while working the last 14 months on sports gambling measures. His latest proposal is to have the $100 million or more in projected yearly revenue distributed the same way as the state’s educational lottery program, which pays for HOPE college scholarships, pre-K education and capital improvements.
A proposed House committee amendment proposes to increase the tax revenue that the state will receive from sports gambling from 20% to 25%.
Wiedower said the extra revenue from sports betting should still trickle down to the state’s pre-K program. While there could be an endless amount of good ideas from the 236 members of the General Assembly for…
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