Georgia Sports Betting Fields Support of Senate Tourism Study Committee
Posted on: December 4, 2025, 09:31h.
Last updated on: December 4, 2025, 09:47h.
- A Georgia Senate study committee has recommended online sports betting
- The committee was focused on developing ways to increase tourism in the Peach State
- Religious opponents will fight against any gaming expansion effort
Could 2026 finally be the year when sports betting legislation crosses the finish line in Georgia?
On Monday, the Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the No. 1 State for Tourism, authorized through Senate Resolution 323 during the General Assembly’s 2025 legislative session, issued its final report. The 28-page document includes a list of recommendations reached by the five-member committee, consisting of Sens. Drew Echols (R-Gainesville), Frank Ginn (R-Danielsville), Russ Goodman (R-Cogdell), Sonya Halpern (D-Atlanta), and Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur).
The State of Georgia should legalize mobile sports betting,” was among the study committee’s recommendations for strengthening the fiscal and economic impact of tourism in Georgia.
There are 39 states, plus Washington, DC, that have legalized sports gambling. Thirty-one and DC permit online wagering.
The tourism study committee was one of several off-session committees that looked at gaming. Casinos and sports betting were more strongly looked at in the House Gaming Study Committee.
Late Bet on Sports Gambling
Committee Chair Echols told The Center Square that the online sports betting provision was a last-minute inclusion. During the group’s five meetings between August and November, testimony was received about the possible tax revenue benefit Georgia, a sports-obsessed state, could reap by authorizing online sportsbooks.
During the study committee’s November 18 meeting at EchoPark Speedway, Nick Fernandez, senior director of government affairs and public policy for the Metro Atlanta Chamber, explained how North Carolina uses a portion of its online sports betting tax revenue to lure in major events. Like Georgia, North Carolina doesn’t have commercial casinos. Instead, mobile sportsbooks were welcomed in through partnerships with the state’s professional sports teams and venues.
In North Carolina’s 2025 fiscal year, which ended in June, the state’s tax benefit from online commercial sports betting totaled $116.58 million. Thirty percent, or $34.9 million, was directed to the North Carolina Major Events, Games & Attractions Fund.
Georgia and North Carolina are similarly populated, but the Peach State is home to more professional sports teams with the NFL Falcons, MLB Braves, NBA Hawks, WNBA Dream, and MLS United.
Georgia is also home annually to The Masters at Augusta National, the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and its capital city regularly hosts major events like the Super Bowl and NCAA March Madness. Atlanta is also set to be a 2026 FIFA World Cup host city.
A University of Georgia poll commissioned by the Metro Atlanta Chamber released in January found that 63% of state voters support allowing adults to bet on professional and college sports.
Gaming Opposition
If gaming legislation is being considered in Georgia, it’s a safe bet that Mike Griffin, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s public affairs representative, is going to weigh in with opposition. Griffin regularly testifies against so-called “sin industries.”
Griffin says that if the state wants to better fund the promotion of tourism, it should look elsewhere than gambling.
In legalizing immoral vices, we have put money over morality. We have made what appears to be the idolatry of money the primary reason for passing or not passing legislation in government,” Griffin declared.
Georgia is located in the Bible Belt. Pew Research ranks Georgia as the 10th most religious state, with 38% of residents reporting being “highly religious.”
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