Efforts by Georgia lawmakers to legalize sports betting fizzle again

ATLANTA (AP) — It turns out 2025 isn't the year for legalized sports betting in Georgia.

Efforts to send a state constitutional amendment to voters failed Thursday in the state legislature, as neither the amendment nor a bill laying out details ever came to a vote in the House.

Voters in Missouri narrowly approved sports betting in a 2024 referendum, making it the 39th state to legalize the practice. But like in Georgia, legalization faces high hurdles in the 10 remaining states that bar sports gambling.

Thursday was the deadline for each Georgia chamber to pass its own legislation to the opposite chamber. The measures still could be revived in the last month of the session, but it much less likely. Lawmakers could still consider the measures in the 2026 half of Georgia's two-year session.

“It came in late and I guess people just weren't there yet,” said House Higher Education Committee Chairman Chuck Martin, an Alpharetta Republican, referring to a bill and constitutional amendment that were introduced only last week.

“We'll keep working with people and trying to do what's in the best interest of the state,” Martin said, saying a referendum was still possible in on the November 2026 ballot.

Sports wagering is backed by Atlanta's professional sports teams, business groups and Republican Lt. Gov Burt Jones. But those powerful proponents have struggled to pass a law in the seven legislative sessions since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 struck down a federal law that banned commercial sports betting in most states.

In Minnesota, a proposal failed on a 6-6- tie vote in a Senate committee on Feb. 13, even though the sponsor said his bill was supported by the state’s 11 Native American tribes, which operate casinos, the state’s two horse racing tracks, charitable gambling operations and local sports teams.

California voters rejected wagering in 2022. A proposal to legalize sports betting passed the Texas House in 2023, but the state Senate spurned the proposal.

One state where the issue is making progress is Hawaii, where the state House on Tuesday passed a bill that would legalize online sports betting.

Missouri is currently making rules and taking applications from sportsbooks, with the launch of legal betting delayed until late summer or early fall.

Without Democratic votes in Georgia, a constitutional amendment couldn’t achieve the two-thirds majorities needs to pass the state House and Senate.

Republicans in the state are far from unified. Some GOP lawmakers oppose sports betting, warning that legalizing sports betting will provide a pathway to addiction, especially for younger gamblers.

House Minority Whip Sam Park, a Lawrenceville Democrat, said Wednesday that his party wants to prioritize use of any tax money for prekindergarten. That was part of the constitutional amendment proposed by Martin's committee.

Supporters have argued that Georgians should get a chance to vote, arguing many already bet on sports illegally.

“I believe strongly — and Georgians by wide margins agree with me — that this change will not only bring in much needed revenue to educate our youngest learners but also provide consumer protections that don’t exist in today’s black market,” State Rep. Marcus Wiedower, the Watkinsville Republican who sponsored the measure, said in a statement

Of the 38 states that currently allow sports betting, some allow only in-person bets, although most allow electronic betting from anywhere.