Despite being one of the world’s most flourishing industries, online gambling has been slow to take off in the USA. Different states have their own laws regarding sports betting and online casinos, but there has been a push in recent times to legalize these activities in some regions.
Georgia lawmakers have witnessed the success of other successful states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania and have tried to push through their own gambling legislation. However, this has been met with some pushback and efforts have stalled.
Georgia Pushing for Legalization of Online Gambling
Since the start of this year, top officials in Georgia have been pushing for legislation for online gambling. They introduced House Bill 686 and House Resolution 450, aiming to legalize digital-only sports betting and place a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot.
These proposals included various stipulations that would make online gambling beneficial to the state, such as a 24 percent tax rate on revenue. There are also plans to allocate the first 85 percent of tax revenue to fund special programs in the state. On top of that, the legalization of sports betting would involve licensing opportunities for professional sports teams in Georgia, along with Augusta National Golf Club, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and seven standalone operators.
Unfortunately, and amendment to include online casino gaming in the ballot initiative was defeated in committee discussions, meaning that Georgia has not made any progress on that front.
Following in the Footsteps of Other Successful States
After the success of legalizing online gambling in various other states, it’s easy to see why Georgia wants to push these bills through. New Jersey has always set the benchmark for other states to follow, and revenue in the state from iGaming alone surpassed $2 billion in 2024.
Indeed, the revenue generated from iGaming is far superior to sports betting, meaning that the ideal scenario for Georgia would be to legalize both gambling offshoots. This is because the casino market is designed to appeal to a wider range of people, thanks largely to the variety of slot games available. Players even use comparison sites to help them decide which slots to choose from, with some sites offering more than 4700 games. These come in a lot of different genres, with titles designed to suit a diverse array of personality types.
No Major Progress Yet
Even though there seemed to be some initial momentum behind Georgia’s online gambling proposals, the legislation didn’t advance in time and both bills failed to receive a full House vote. That means that their progress for the 2025 session was halted, and that they’ll have to try again in 2026.
This was the seventh consecutive year that attempts were made to legalize gambling in Georgia, and it was yet another failed attempt. The fact that some people are still resolute to push this forward is promising, however, and it could simply be a matter of time before it’s successful. It’s hard to ignore the impact that the industry has had on other states, and as more dominoes fall, Georgia could finally put its own online gambling sector in place.
