Georgia Sports Betting: No Legal Georgia Bookies
Welcome to this page dedicated to Georgia sports betting options. Unfortunately, sports gambling in Georgia is prohibited. We will explore why that’s the case by looking at Georgia’s current laws, its gambling history, and any pending legislation that might change the strict gambling policies of the Peach State.
- This Site Contains:
- Overview of Georgia’s Gambling Laws
- Pending Legislation in the House/Senate
- History of Gambling in Georgia
There isn’t a single reason why Georgia has not yet legalized different forms of gambling. During our research, we found many news articles, as well as peer-reviewed papers discussing why the Peach State shouldn’t legalize gambling. Some fear gambling addiction, while others see the industry as highly volatile in financial terms and thus not worth the trouble.
It’s also true that Georgia tends to express conservative attitudes to gambling, which view prohibition as the antidote to gambling addiction, but that’s not always the case and the prominence of illegal sites showcase this. Currently, Georgia only allows charitable gaming, Daily Fantasy Sports, and has its own lottery.
Online Sports Betting Georgia
Online sports betting Georgia is illegal. There are no legal sports betting Georgia sites. In-person sports betting is also illegal, so sports buffs in the state have virtually no safe options to wager on sporting events. Unlike most states, Georgia also prohibits pari-mutuel betting on horse races, which is unfortunate.
Legal Options for Georgia Residents
Sports gambling in Georgia is prohibited, so Georgians have no legal online sports betting options. Still, they can partake in the few legal forms of gambling the state offers. You can buy a ticket for the lottery, participate in charitable gaming like bingo and raffles, and you can also play Daily Fantasy Sports.
Daily Fantasy Sports in Georgia
Daily Fantasy Sports is a virtual game where players create a fantasy team composed of real athletes. The players use statistical data to determine which athletes to pick and they earn money based on the performances of these athletes in real life.
Daily Fantasy Sports are legal in Georgia, which makes it the only legal online sports betting Georgia offers. However, a deputy Attorney General in Georgia, Wright Banks Jr., said that DFS should be considered gambling and should be banned. Later, Georgia created a bill to regulate DFS, but the bill had been dropped since. Georgians can still freely play DFS.
| Betting Type | Legal | Regulatory Body |
|---|---|---|
| 🏈 Online Sports Betting | No | None |
| 🎰 Online Casinos | No | None |
| ⚾ Daily Fantasy Sports | Yes | None |
| 🏢 Land-Based Casinos | No | None |
| 🏨 Land-Based Sportsbooks | No | None |
| 🃏 Poker Rooms | No | None |
| 🏇 Racetrack Betting | No | None |
| 🎫 State-Sponsored Lottery | Yes | Georgia Lottery Corporation |
Offshore Bookies in Georgia
Offshore Georgia sports betting sites are widespread, but they remain highly illegal. Offshore online bookmakers are illegal on a federal level under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). These sites are consequently unlicensed and have the potential to be scams, so please avoid them if you encounter them online.
Sports Gambling in Georgia: Pending Sports Betting Legislation
Currently, sports gambling in Georgia is not legal. There is no legal sportsbook Georgia or a betting site. However, this might soon change, because various lawmakers have shown their readiness to legalize sports gambling. There are a few bills that are waiting to be heard in the House and Senate as of today.
There have been numerous attempts to leagalize offline and online sports betting Georgia. As you can imagine, they all failed. One of the main reasons why is because they didn’t garner enough support in either the House or Senate. We will discuss the past and present legalization attempts in the next few sections.
Prior Legalization Attempts
There have been a few attempts to legalize different forms of sports gambling in Georgia, which is good news for all the sports buffs out there. Still, no bill has passed yet. The most recent, almost successful attempt was House Bill 93. The bill was proposed by Senator Burt Jones (R) in 2020.
HB 93 proposed to legalize sports betting for adults over the age of 21. The new industry would have been regulated by the Georgia Lottery Corporation. Operators could apply for one of the $50,000 licenses and then pay an annual fee of $90,000. Sen. Jones also proposed a gambling tax of 20%.
The bill passed the Senate Special Judiciary Commission, but it died in the House. Although both Democrats and Republicans appear to favor legalization, it’s become harder to pass any bill lately. This is because Democrats protest Republican voter ID laws and some have refused to work on bipartisan legislation.
Current Legislation
Georgian lawmakers keep trying to make online sports betting Georgia a reality. There are currently three pending bills that could legalize sports gambling in Georgia. They were all postponed due to the House being withdrawn, but they were all recommitted and we expect updates soon.
Two of the bills, namely SB142 and HB86, are almost identical in content and they are both bipartisan bills. They propose the introduction of “the lottery game of sports wagering”. The third piece of legislation, Senate Resolution 135, is a Republican bill that simply proposes to create legal sports betting Georgia.
- Increased tax revenue
- More jobs in Georgia
- Safer betting environment
- Potential regulatory issues
- Potential for increases in gambling addiction
- Won’t eliminate scam betting sites
SB142 is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Mullis (R), Sen. Butch Miller (R), Sen. Harold Jones (D), Sen. John Albers (R), Sen. Elena Parent (D), Sen. Valencia Seay (D), Sen. Ben Watson (R), Sen. Ed Harbison (D), and Rep. Ron Stephens (R).
HB86 is sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens (R), Rep. Calvin Smyre (D), Rep. Billy Mitchell (D), Rep. Lee Hawkins (R), Rep. Shelly Hutchinson (D), and Rep. Matt Dollar (R). Lastly, the Senate Resolution 135 is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Mullis (R), Sen. Bill Cowsert (R), and Rep. Ron Stephens (R). You can follow their progress in LegiScan.
The Outlook for Pending Legislation
The three pieces of pending legislation are looked upon favorably. As shown above, two of the bills are even bipartisan, which significantly increases their chances to be passed. We don’t want to jinx it, but we predict that sports gambling in Georgia would soon be legalized based on the current situation.
What Legal Online Sports Betting Would Look Like in Georgia
Most of the recent legalization bills propose for the Georgia Lottery Corporation to oversee Georgia sports betting, so we assume that GLC would be the state regulator. We have also seen readiness for both offline and online sports betting Georgia to be legalized, thus we expect Georgia to introduce brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, betting sites and mobile apps.
The most pragmatic argument for legalizing Georgia sports betting is naturally the additional tax revenue for the state. Sen. Jones proposed for sports wagering to be taxed at 20%, but his bill failed, and we can’t tell for certain what the percentage would be if a sports betting bill passes.
However, we know that the state and the federal coffers would benefit from legal sports betting Georgia. Currently, there’s a 24% federal gambling tax for players who make above a certain sum depending on the game they play. These players have to file the W2-G form and send it to the IRS.
Plans for Future Legalization of Online Betting Sites in Georgia
Georgia seems very keen to legalize sports betting. There have been countless bills in the past few years and three that are currently pending. We are hopeful that sports gambling in Georgia would soon be introduced based on the bipartisan support for legalization. We will be the first to tell you when that happens.
The History of Sports Gambling in Georgia
The history of gambling in Georgia mirrors that of many states in the union. Initially, gambling was thriving in most states, but one by one they banned it in the late 19th century. For Georgia, this happened in 1877. The state has since legalized some forms of gambling and we hope prohibition would soon be a thing of the past.
Let us tell you a little bit more about the Supreme Court decision that we included on the list. In 2018, the Supreme Court Justices overruled PASPA or the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which banned sports betting on a federal level across all states.
The court found PASPA to be unconstitutional as it gave the federal government excessive powers. With this decision, states were allowed to legalize and regulate their own sports betting industries. This is why sports betting bills have appeared all around the country in the last few years.
Potential Licensing Requirements
Once Georgia sports betting is legalized, a licensing body would be established to regulate the Peach State’s new industry. Based on the current proposals, this body would be the Georgia Lottery Corporation. Its first job would be to sell licenses to sports betting operators and to then charge them an annual fee to operate in Georgia.
Apart from that, the chosen state authority would be tasked with regulating offline and online sports betting Georgia. It would make sure that the rules of the games are abided to and that the operation of the betting establishments are up to code.
Only legal sports betting Georgia would be safe for the local residents. Once that happens, they would be able to bet at regulated betting sites overseen by the state authorities. Shall any issue arise, they would have the right to pursue legal action. Unfortunately, that’s not possible as of now.
Black market betting sites are very popular in Georgia, but that doesn’t make them any less illegal. They are banned under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), so you’d be committing a crime if you use them. There are many other things that can go wrong if you use these sites.
Black Market Bookmakers Operating in Georgia
As already mentioned, non-licensed bookmakers are illegal under the UIGEA. It is a punishable offense to operate an illegal gambling site and/or to use one. This should be a reason enough not to do it, but even if you never get caught, you can experience many other negative consequences.
One of them is data breach.Your personal information is never safe in unregulated betting sites. It can be thus sold by the gaming provider to unknown third parties for profit. In the worst-case scenario, you can even become a victim of identity theft, which is no laughing matter.
Let’s talk about the games offered at illegal betting sites. You have no way of knowing that they are not rigged, because external oversight does not exist. You also have no way of knowing that the provider would pay you out any wins that you might score.
If this happened at a legal regulated site, you would have the option to sue the provider and have your case heard by the state regulator. However, you don’t have this option now, so please don’t visit illegal online betting sites in Georgia. They are potentially dangerous for you and your bank account.
- ⛔️ 1XBet
- ⛔️ Bovada
- ⛔️ BetOnline
- ⛔️ BetDSI
- ⛔️ SportsBetting.ag
- ⛔️ CarbonGaming.ag
- ⛔️ MyBookie
- ⛔️ BetUS
- ⛔️ Xbet
- ⛔️ 22bet
- ⛔️ 5Dimes
Conclusion – Georgia Betting Sites are Illegal
This page provided you with an overview of Georgia sports gambling laws. We discussed the history of gambling in the state, the current laws regarding sports betting, and the pending bills that could see legal Georgia sports betting become a reality. We also talked about the future outlook for the potential Georgia sports gambling industry.
For now, sports gambling in Georgia is prohibited. There are no legal online sports betting Georgia sites, so any that you encounter are illegal under the UIGEA and potentially dangerous to use. Refrain from visiting such betting sites and wait till sports betting becomes legal in the Peach State.
The current climate is ripe for legalization and we now closely monitor the three pending bills that could legalize Georgia sports betting this year. Once there are any new legal developments, we will update the page immediately, so make sure you check it regularly. We hope the bills pass the House and Senate soon.
FAQs
Thank you for reading this page dedicated to the legal situation regarding Georgia sports betting. Although we aim to make our reviews as comprehensive as possible, our readers have more specific questions, so we will answer the most common ones below. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.