Georgia’s Sports Betting Bill Fails in 2025 Session

After a harried week of late-night meetings and rushed legislative actions, the dream of legalizing sports betting in Georgia came to an abrupt halt on Thursday, March 6. The Georgia General Assembly, led by Speaker Jon Burns, adjourned the session without taking action on two critical sports betting bills, effectively killing the issue for the 2025 legislative year.

With a round of applause marking the close of the session about an hour before the 11:59 p.m. local legislative deadline, Burns officially signaled the end of what many had hoped would be a breakthrough year for sports wagering in the state. The bills—one a constitutional amendment and the other a framework bill—were not among the measures called for a vote, despite the flurry of last-minute legislative activity aimed at passing them.

 

The Developments

The defeat of the sports betting bills was compounded by the fact that a Senate committee had previously deferred its own package of legislation, leaving the issue without the necessary momentum to cross over between chambers. With this lack of action, hopes of seeing a sports betting referendum in Georgia in the near future were dashed, marking another setback in a long-running battle to legalize gambling in the state.

The failure in Georgia comes at a time when other states are making strides in expanding their gambling frameworks. As of March 4, 39 U.S. states have legalized sports betting following the 2018 repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which had previously banned such activities in most states. In Hawaii, the House passed a digital-only sports betting bill that day, and lawmakers in Mississippi moved forward with a bill to expand its retail sports betting program to include online wagering. However, even in these states, the road to full legalization remains challenging, particularly as bills face hurdles in their respective senates.

For Georgia, the failure to pass the sports betting legislation in 2025 marks yet another chapter in a multi-year struggle to bring gambling to the state. Efforts to legalize sports betting first gained traction in 2021, when partisan tensions—particularly over redistricting—prevented the passage of a bill. Since then, lawmakers have failed to reach a consensus on what form legal wagering should take, and critical issues such as the need for a constitutional amendment and the allocation of gambling revenue have remained contentious.

Two key pieces of legislation were at the heart of the 2025 proposal. HB 686, the framework bill, had been amended to include a tax rate of 24%, up from an initial 20%. This bill sought to create a competitive marketplace for digital sports betting, regulated by the Georgia Lottery Corporation. HR 450, the constitutional amendment, would have placed a referendum on the November 2026 ballot, allowing voters to decide whether to approve legalized sports betting in the state. Despite the bills' approval in key committees earlier in the week, neither was called to a vote before the legislative deadline, and both would have had to pass for the issue to even have a chance of reaching voters.

The proposed legislation was limited to legalizing digital sports betting, with no provisions for in-person wagering or iGaming. Under the proposal, Georgia’s major professional sports teams, including the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Hawks, and Atlanta United, as well as Augusta National Golf Club and the PGA Tour, would have been eligible for licenses. The bill also included seven stand-alone licenses for independent operators and allowed the state lottery to operate a digital betting platform.

Revenue generated from legalized sports betting was to be allocated to education funding, including universal pre-kindergarten programs and the HOPE Scholarship, two long-standing priorities in the state. These measures, however, will have to wait at least another year as Georgia lawmakers shift their focus to other issues.

While advocates for legal sports betting in Georgia have fought for years to bring change to the state’s restrictive gambling laws, resistance has remained strong. Groups focused on responsible gambling raised concerns throughout the legislative process, and lawmakers never appeared fully committed to bringing gambling to Georgia. As a result, the legislative defeat leaves the state's position on legal wagering largely unchanged for now.

 

Despite last-minute efforts, Georgia's sports betting legislation failed to gain the necessary support, leaving the issue dead for the 2025 session.

 

The Future

For Georgia, the failure to pass sports betting legislation means that it will remain one of the few states without legal sports gambling. If it had passed, Georgia would have likely become the fifth-largest U.S. sports betting market by population, joining the ranks of states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania. However, the state’s inability to reach a consensus this year means it will continue to watch from the sidelines as other states expand their sports betting offerings.

Looking ahead, the conversation around legalized gambling in Georgia will inevitably continue to evolve, especially with the 2026 referendum still in sight. For now, however, sports betting in the Peach State remains a dream deferred, leaving both proponents and opponents to regroup for another attempt next year.