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The new legislative year in Georgia begins January 13, 2025. With that comes optimism of “change” — including in the arena of legal sports betting.
As it stands, the Peach State is one of the last holdouts of legal wagering. Betting in Missouri was just legalized, making Georgia one of 11 states without a regulated market. But a state senator is vouching to change that ahead of the new year. Keep reading and we’ll tell you what’s the latest news out of Georgia.
Swing Voters Want Sports Betting In Georgia
Meet Brandon Beach, he’s a Republican state senator. In the past, he sponsored sports betting legislation in Georgia to no avail. But he hasn’t given up yet, penning an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently and once again coming out in support of sports betting in Georgia.
Beach brought facts to the table too, specifically swing voters during the 2024 election. As you may or may not know, Georgia is now a swing state — after decades of being red. It ended up voting red again this last November, helping Donald Trump secure a victory over Kamala Harris. But the swing voters that decided the vote seem to be aligned toward legal betting, per Beach’s findings.
He brought up a study by Arizona State University. In it, the school found Latino males are most likely to wager on sports. Latino males were also a key demographic in the 2024 election, especially in Georgia. Get this, Joe Biden won the Latino male vote over Trump by 23 points in Georgia four years ago. This time around? Trump trounced Kamala by 12 points in the demo — an astonishing 35-point swing.
Latinos represent about 10 percent of the population in Georgia with roughly half of those being male. If put up to a vote, who’s to say those voters can’t swing this in favor of legalization? Beach certainly believes it and we do too. Previous polls have found most Georgia voters — Latino or not — are in favor of legalization. Beach cited another 2024 poll that showed 81 percent of Republican voters in the state favored it (this number seems strangely high to us, but that’s what Beach said).
The issue is, betting has never been put on the ballot. Several bills have been passed around in Georgia that would’ve legalized it. However, all have failed to pass through Georgia’s Legislature and into the governor’s hands.
Betting Is Still Happening In Georgia
Beach wasn’t done campaigning though. Inside the op-ed, he made it very evident that sports betting is still going on despite Georgia lawmakers’ best efforts to snuff it out. Of course, he’s referring to the unregulated sportsbook market. This comes in the forms — offshore sportsbooks and local bookies.
Local bookies have existed since the dawn of betting. These are everyday folks who take and collect bets from others. While most of these are somewhat “mom and pop” operations, we’ve seen others grow into national enterprises. You heard the stories out of California that involved Shohei Ohtani’s translator — those were millions of dollars being flung around under the table.
Offshore books are much more common and easier to pull off. These sites operate out of foreign countries where betting IS legal. Thus, they can’t be shut down. Some are banned in certain states, but honestly, there’s so many offshore bookies that no single state can ban them all.
In fact, we suggest Georgia bettors go this route if they want to bet. We’ve found many offshore sportsbooks to be on par with licensed ones like DraftKings or FanDuel. Here’s a list of our favorite offshore sites:
But back to the main point Beach is trying to get across: Georgia gains zero from this unregulated betting. Zero tax dollars from what’s likely hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by Georgia residents. That’s a massive missed opportunity Beach writes and for what? Just to add high and mighty when betting is still going on?
Big Sporting Events Will Put Pressure On Georgia
Beach raises one last point — one we hadn’t even considered. Georgia is a mini-sports hub even though it often gets forgotten. Over the next seven years, the state will host the College Football Playoff National Championship, World Cup games, the Super Bowl, and an NCAA Final Four. That’s essentially the four biggest sporting events to American consumers, and it’s all going on in Atlanta.
Inevitably, tourists will flock to Atlanta for those sporting events. What’s going to be their reaction when they pull up their favorite sports betting app and are geo-blocked from betting from it inside state lines? Welp, it’s going to leave a sour taste in their mouths and that’s not a good idea thinks Beach.
Georgia has a history of doing this to sports fans. Who can forget when Stacey Abrams cost Atlanta the MLB All Star game over politics? That decision cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and worse, tarnished its reputation. Beach thinks a similar thing can play out if bettors are denied at these large-scale sporting events they’ll soon be hosting.
We got to tip our hats to Beach. He’s truly trying to change the narrative around betting in the state. We’ll just have to see if that’s enough to let Georgia voters truly decide on the issue.
Best Betting Sites 