Georgia Sports Betting

Is sports betting legal in Georgia?

No. Right now, there are no legal options for sports betting in Georgia, despite multiple efforts in the Georgia Assembly. Given that sports betting bills passed through the Georgia Legislature in 2021 and came close in 2022, it’s not a reach to believe that betting on sports is in the near future for Georgians.

What’s happening in Georgia sports betting right now

• February 3, 2023 – A new sports betting bill, SB 57, was introduced in the Georgia legislature. The proposal would authorize up to 18 online sportsbooks, nine of which are set aside for sports franchises in the state, including Augusta National Golf Club.
• January 9, 2023 – Georgia’s 2023 legislative session begins, and lawmakers are again expected to introduce a bill that will legalize sports betting in some form in the state.
• November 17, 2022 – Stacey Abrams lost her bid for governor, which means she will not get a chance to promote her plan for legal casinos and sports betting in the state.
• October 24, 2022 – The top-ranked, undefeated Georgia Bulldogs football team will try to keep its run alive against Florida this weekend before facing No. 3 Tennessee the following week.
• October 17, 2022 – The Georgia Bulldogs remain ranked No. 1 at 7-0 after a 55-0 rout of Vanderbilt.
• September 24, 2022 – The top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs are likely drawing a lot of handle from college football bettors this season. Unfortunately for local fans, though, they either have to travel to bet legally or risk their wager with an offshore sportsbook to get in on the action.
• September 13, 2022 – Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams released a 15-second ad and a 30-second ad concerning sports betting. Abrams supports a constitutional amendment that would legalize casinos and sports betting while expanding the HOPE scholarship program. More ads on sports betting will be published, a campaign spokesperson told NBC News.

The status of Georgia sports betting

Legislative efforts to legalize sports betting continued their success in 2022, even if the session ended with no consensus. In March, Rep. Ron Stephens amended two gambling bills passed by the Senate in 2021, both approved by a House committee. One bill proposed a voter referendum to allow all types of gambling, while the other was enabling legislation for mobile and retail sports betting. However, SR135 was replaced and SB142 never made it to the House floor.

Legal sports betting in Georgia has strong support from a coalition of Atlanta professional sports teams, including the Atlanta Hawks. At a late-session hearing in 2021, Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin called sports betting an important part of teams’ efforts to engage with fans during a difficult time in professional sports. In May of that same year, US sports betting heavyweight FanDuel announced it planned to open an IT and production facility in Atlanta.

Still, gambling could be a tough sell in Georgia. It is one of the few states that does not have commercial or tribal casinos. An effort to put the question of allowing casino gambling in front of voters in 2020 also failed.

When will online sports betting be legal in Georgia?

Online sports betting would launch in Georgia no earlier than late 2023 or 2024 if approved. Since legislation hit a wall in 2022, pro-sports betting lawmakers will have to circle back to the issue. Lawmakers introduced another bill, SB 57, during the 2023 legislative session which is similar to one that failed in 2022. The new bill has not yet been read or assigned to committee.

A wrinkle is that voters must also approve any measure to make the amendment law. Even under the assumption that sports betting would receive the go-ahead, it would likely be several months before the Georgia Lottery could promulgate regulations for the new industry, issue licenses, and allow operators to launch.

Sportsbook apps that could launch in Georgia

With so much uncertainty, it’s difficult to know which sportsbooks will come to Georgia if sports betting becomes a legal reality. The failed 2021 and 2022 legislative efforts allowed for the possibility of at least six online operators. Without any gambling venues in the state, these apps would be the only way to bet on sports legally. This exclusivity and Georgia’s population make it an attractive target for most sportsbook companies. However, here are some of the likely candidates to debut when online sports betting arrives in GA:

• FanDuel — Its IT hub investment and presence in Georgia for DFS play make FanDuel near-certain to open its sports betting doors in the state when the opportunity comes. It also serves sports bettors in nearby Tennessee, the closest sports betting-friendly location to Georgia’s largest city, Atlanta.
• DraftKings — DraftKings also offers its daily fantasy sports play to Georgia residents and is often among the vanguard of sportsbook apps to launch in new states. Like FanDuel, DK is also available in neighboring Tennessee and is quick to launch in states that offer competitive licensing.
• BetMGM — BetMGM Sportsbook is usually among early adopters in new markets, which makes it an odds-on favorite to show up in Georgia as soon as possible. BetMGM is part of the market to the north in Tennessee, too, so it’s likely that the book already has some cachet and brand recognition within areas of Georgia.
• Caesars — Caesars Sportsbook is one of the largest sportsbook operations in the country and has significant resources to pursue opportunities in new areas. Its properties in North Carolina are the nearest full-service casinos to those living in northern Georgia, including the residents of Atlanta, Athens, and Augusta.
• BetRivers — BetRivers Sportsbook might not be a familiar name for many in the South, but the app has battled successfully to prove itself in other areas of the country. There’s little reason to assume Rush Street Interactive would pass on Georgia if available.
• PointsBet — PointsBet is an Australian sportsbook that is one of the more successful foreign sportsbook companies to come to the US as sports betting has spread. The company is often at the forefront of launches in new states.

GA sports betting bills

Despite Georgia’s past resistance to gambling, lawmakers in the Peach State have been diligently working to pass legislation for sports betting since 2020. In the years since, there have been a number of different bills that have sought in various ways to authorize sports betting for Georgia’s citizens. The list below is a running list of those efforts:

• SB403
• HB903 – Amendments as part of an unrelated parking bill
• HB86
• SR135
• SB142

As more bills proceed through the Georgia Legislature, we will update this list.

Most popular sports to bet on in Georgia

Georgia has three major professional sports teams in Atlanta and a popular soccer club, but a college team reigns supreme in the state.

NCAA betting in Georgia

Georgia is in the middle of SEC country, where NCAA football is king.

The Georgia Bulldogs haven’t won a national title since 1980, but their 56 bowl victories are tied for the second-most of any college football program. They’ve won the SEC title 13 times and made it to the college football playoffs in 2017. Yet, their rival Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have actually won more national titles, four to two, and more recently tasted victory in 1990.

MLB betting in Georgia

The Atlanta Braves have had more success than the other Atlanta professional teams combined. Founded in 1871 as Boston Red Stockings, the Braves are one of the National League‘s two remaining charter franchises. Moving to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves are the only Major League Baseball team to win the World Series for three cities, winning in Atlanta in 1995.

The Braves are still exciting fans today, winning the NL East division in 2018 and 2019. Decades of having their games broadcast nationally on the cable network TBS gave the Braves a nationwide fanbase.

NFL betting in Georgia

In 2016, the Atlanta Falcons nearly brought the city its first Super Bowl championship since joining the NFL in 1966. The high-flying birds lost to the New England Patriots in the first-ever Super Bowl to go to overtime. Although the Falcons missed the playoffs the past two seasons, they still have the passing duo that led the Super Bowl run in QB Matt Ryan and WR Julio Jones.

NBA betting in Georgia

The Hawks haven’t won an NBA championship since moving to city in 1968, but they’ve had their fair share of success, making the playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons from 2008 to 2017. The Hawks have an exciting young player to build around in PG Trae Young.

MLS betting in Georgia

Atlanta United is the city’s newest team, joining MLS as an expansion team in 2017. But they immediately captured the love of Georgians, setting attendance records and winning the city’s first sports championship in 25 years with the MLS Cup in 2018 and adding the Campeones Cup.

Legal betting options in Georgia

There are no legal betting options in Georgia. In fact, there are few gambling options in general. Georgians and visitors to the state have the Georgia Lottery, which allows for the sale of tickets online. There are also charitable games such as bingo. But most betting options are non-existent and prohibited in the state.

Any websites that will take your bet in Georgia are illegal offshore websites that don’t hold a license from any US jurisdiction. Without state regulation, these offshore betting apps can’t be counted on to pay out winnings and have been known to disappear with people’s money. The only safe and protected way to bet on sports in the US is with a licensed operator.

Georgia and daily fantasy sports

While daily fantasy sports are unregulated in Georgia, DraftKings, FanDuel and Yahoo Fantasy operate in the state.

Georgia came close to legalizing DFS in 2017. The House passed a bill, but the Senate didn’t bring it up for a vote. A previous attorney general ruling questioned the legality of DFS in Georgia. Things have been quiet since, but no news appears to be good news as the state’s current leadership seems fine with allowing fantasy sports to continue.

Is horse racing legal in Georgia?

Horse racing is legal in Georgia, but there are no permanent racetracks and horse betting is illegal. The Georgia Steeplechase and Hawkinsville Harness Festival are two annual horse racing events in the state.

Several legislative attempts were made in recent years to add horse betting. The Georgia Horse Racing Coalition seeks to bring racetracks and pari-mutuel wagering to the Peach State. But they haven’t made it far. A 2020 bill that would have put the question of horse racing on the November ballot failed. In 2021, a similar effort in the Georgia Senate also failed. SR131 proposed an amendment to the Georgia Constitution that would have allowed wagering to proceed at “licensed racetracks and betting facilities.” However, the proposal failed to progress beyond its initial reading and committee referral.

The most recent attempt to legalize pari-mutuel betting in Georgia occurred in February 2022. A Georgia Senate committee held a hearing but the bill did not advance much farther.

Georgia sports betting timeline

2022

The legislative year began with high hopes. In January, House Speaker David Ralston suggested allowing Georgians to vote on whether they want casino gaming in the state and figure out what it looks like if the answer is yes. There was an appetite to pass a gambling bill in 2022 that has not been there before, he added.

Rep. Ron Stephens tried to amend two pieces of gambling legislature passed by the Senate in 2021 in SR135 and SB142. SR135 would have put gambling on the November ballot for Georgians to approve, while SB142 legalized sports betting. Unfortunately, those efforts were stymied, and the session ended on April 4 with no gambling bills passed. The next session began in January 2023.

Meanwhile, efforts in neighboring North Carolina heated up in April before falling apart a few weeks later. This would’ve given Georgia residents another legal sports betting option beyond Tennessee sportsbook apps.

2021

Rep. Ron Stephens redoubled his efforts in the new session and unveiled HB86 as a follow-up to last year’s bill. The bill proposed online-only sports betting, remote registration, and up to six licensees. However, the new bill did not allow for collegiate wagering.

Stephens’ colleagues in the Senate did not wait for HB86 to navigate through the House committee system and offered their own bill, SB142. The bill was similar to the House version, but notably diverged on the subject of betting on college games. SB142 and its companion, SR135 (which puts the question on a referendum for voters), passed through the Senate in early March 2021.

The end of the legislative session on March 31, loomed over the bills’ proceeding through the House. Because of disagreements about a controversial voting rights bill signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp, sports betting was drawn into a political battle along partisan lines. The arguments were so contentious that, at one point, the NAACP publicly announced its opposition to sports betting in Georgia. Thus, despite their passage through the Georgia Senate, both measures did not progress past committee in the House of Representatives.

2020

Georgia got off to a late start in making an effort to legalize sports wagering. Lawmakers didn’t take an interest in GA sports betting until neighboring Tennessee legalized the activity.

In February, a group of Senators dropped S 403, an online-only sports betting bill similar to what passed in Tennessee. The bill called for a 10% tax rate and $900,000 annual license fee.

That bill died in committee, but facing an unforeseen budget crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, lawmakers revived the proposal late in the session by amending the language on to a bill that was still alive.

Rep. Stephens followed suit by putting his H 378 into an unneeded Senate bill. His legislation would have put the question of legalizing sports betting, casinos and horse racing on the ballot to give voters the opportunity to amend the state constitution to allow the activities. But constitutional amendments require a difficult-to-reach two-thirds vote in the legislature.

Stephens believes that the gambling expansions would be widely approved by voters if only they could get on the ballot. Unfortunately, none of these efforts proved unsuccessful, as the 2020 legislative session ended without any forward motion on the amendments.

Georgia sports betting FAQ

Who would oversee sports betting in Georgia?

The Georgia Lottery. As is the case in states without many avenues of legal gambling, the lottery commission in the Peach State serves as the de facto gaming commission. SB142 designated the Georgia Lottery as the oversight agency for the new industry.

What is the legal gambling age in Georgia?

For the limited gambling in Georgia, the legal gambling age is 18. However, sports betting in Georgia will certainly require players to be 21, as all of the most successful attempts to legalize so far have included language to that effect.

Will mobile GA sports betting be allowed?

Yes, with no casinos in the state, Georgia has been exploring the Tennessee model of having sports betting only take place online.

There are some sports betting websites that say they accept bets from the United States. Are those legal options?

No. There are currently no sportsbook operators licensed at the federal level. All US sportsbooks are licensed at the state level. Any website suggesting it allows betting from anywhere in the US is a website that operators offshore. It’s not legal for those sites to accept bets from US citizens. They offer no protection to those who bet on them.