ATLANTA — A bill to legalize sports betting in Georgia is gaining attention on Capitol Hill in the final two weeks of this annual legislative session. If that sounds familiar, it should.
Sports betting is backed by powerful interests and powerful lawmakers. Still, its course over the next 10 days is as uncertain as it has been in recent years.
“The Final Four, March Madness — it's almost a cultural thing,” state Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens) told a House committee Monday. Cowsert insists he's not a big fan of sports betting.
But he supports the sports betting bill because he believes Georgians are illegally betting on sports anyway, and the state isn't making a dime of revenue.
“For generations, we have been (illegally) betting on college football and pro football in our state, in our region,” Cowsert told the House Higher Education Committee.
Cowsert is among those trying to get the Legislature to approve a bill that would let voters across the state decide whether to amend Georgia's constitution to allow sports betting.
Ron Stevens has been working for years to make sure it benefits the HOPE Scholarship.
“4.1 million Georgians are educated about gambling. Many people don't want to admit it, but this is gambling,” Stevens said Tuesday.
The sports betting bill passed the state Senate, but the House of Representatives has refused to even take up the bill for years.
Some lawmakers criticized the bill because the revenue did not include programs for low-income Georgians separate from HOPE.
“I'm one of those people. I can vote either way, but I'm not getting anything and the people aren't getting anything, so I'm going to vote,” said state Rep. Rhonda Burnough, a Democrat. I can't do that,” he said. – Riverdale) told the committee.
Some say the measure will only increase gambling-related problems.
“Go home and check your kids' phones and video games. This is the beginning of an addiction,” says Jean Seaver, founder of Moms Against Gambling.
Supporters removed language that once included casinos and horse racing. The question is whether lawmakers will leave it up to voters to decide on sports betting alone.
“Democracy is a very powerful thing, and I don't think you can legitimately criticize allowing the people of a state to decide what they want to do and what they don't want,” Cowsert told the committee. Ta.
The committee did not vote on the bill, denying it passage in the House.
