ATLANTA – Legislative supporters of legalizing sports betting in Georgia are trying something different this year.
To avoid amending the pesky state Constitution, which requires a two-thirds vote of the Georgia House and Senate, lawmakers in both chambers are pushing bills that would allow online sports betting by statute. Adding sports betting to Georgia law without a constitutional change would need only a simple majority vote in the House and Senate.
But skeptics are warning that doing an end run around the Georgia Constitution runs the risk of lawsuits tying up the state in court and needlessly delaying sports betting from taking effect.
Lawmakers backing the statute route are armed with a new legal opinion from former Georgia Chief Justice Harold Melton asserting that a constitutional amendment is unnecessary. In a 10-page memorandum requested by the Metro Atlanta Chamber – a key supporter of bringing sports betting to Georgia – Melton contends that sports betting can be classified as a form of lottery, already legal in Georgia under the 1992 constitutional amendment that created the Georgia Lottery.
Melton cites a Georgia Court of Appeals ruling that declared three ingredients – prize, chance, and consideration – are legally required to constitute a lottery.
“Bettors pay a fee (the consideration) to enter the betting scheme with the hope of winning money (the prize),” he wrote.
Melton continued that establishing the element of “chance” may be a “closer question” than the prize or consideration. Nonetheless, he concludes that chance is present in sports betting.
“Although a bettor may exercise some skill in picking a particular team or athlete as the winner, the actual determination of a winner is entirely dependent on the ultimate performance of the teams or player,” he wrote.
A bill before the state Senate goes further by calling for legalizing not only sports betting in Georgia by statute but also horse racing. It does so by allowing only “fixed-odds” betting on horses rather than pari-mutuel betting, which is specifically prohibited by the Georgia Constitution along with casino gambling.
“This bill has no pari-mutuel betting and no casinos,” said Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, the chief sponsor of Senate Bill 57.
But former U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Athens, who is a lawyer, called attempts to justify legalizing sports betting in Georgia without a constitutional amendment “legalistic hocus-pocus.”
In an opinion piece published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Barrow wrote that betting on sports cannot be classified as a form of “lottery” but does fit the definition of “pari-mutuel,” and thus would require a constitutional amendment.
” ‘Pari-mutuel’ is the word that has always been applied to gambling on the outcome of some other contest – a race, a fight, a game, whatever,” he wrote. “Unlike a lottery, it depends on such things as the skill or strength of the contestants, and on the skill of the gambler in evaluating the contestants. This is the very essence of sports betting.”
Beyond the legal dispute over whether sports betting can happen in Georgia without a constitutional change is the practical consideration that going the statute route would leave out casinos. Recent polling of likely Georgia voters found stronger support for bringing casino gambling to Georgia than sports betting.
A demographic breakdown of polling results also showed that while sports betting is popular among younger voters and Black men, casinos are more appealing to older voters and Black women.
“A bet’s a bet, but your grandma wants to enjoy some newfound freedom differently than your nephew,” said Dan McLagan, spokesman for All in Georgia, a casino industry group. “Let’s not throw grandma from the fun train.”
McLagan also argued that resort casinos would generate significantly more economic impact in Georgia than online sports betting, which lacks a brick-and-mortar presence and, thus, would create few jobs.
Georgia lawmakers will have plenty of options to pick from when it comes to legalizing gambling during this year’s legislative session. Thus far, two constitutional amendments have been introduced – one in the House and one in the Senate – while two more bills would bring gambling to the Peach State without a constitutional change.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.