Experts say Super Bowl Sunday is the single biggest day for online sports betting in the U.S.  But the practice is still illegal in Georgia and advocates for legalization say the state is missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. 

Should Georgia legalize sports betting?

At Stats Brewpub in downtown Atlanta, couple Louise Gericke and Matt Cox find themselves on opposing sides of the year’s biggest sporting event, but that doesn’t mean they still can’t enjoy watching it together.

What they’re saying:

“We just don’t talk about it until the game’s done,” Gericke said while laughing.  

Gericke said she wanted to bet on her team, the Philadelphia Eagles, but it’s not legal in Georgia, so she had to get creative. 

“I placed a bet on the Eagles, but through my friend in Colorado, so hopefully I wind up winning!” she said.  

Data from cybersecurity company GeoComply shows she’s far from the only one who wishes they could bet on sports in Georgia. 

“Just this past NFL season we saw over 300,000 accounts alone in Georgia,” said John Pappas, senior advisor at GeoComply. 

The company makes sure people can only place online bets where it’s legal. 

Pappas also shared data showing a large amount of people in Georgia crossing the border into Tennessee to place bets.

Potential revenue from sports betting legalization

What we know:

Pappas says according to their data, Georgia is missing out on a lot of money. 

“Estimates look at in a mature legal market in Georgia, the annual tax revenue for the state would be somewhere around $112-115 million annually,” Pappas said. 

State Representative Marcus Wiedower plans to introduce a bill in the state legislature seeking to legalize sports betting, but only through online platforms.

“I’ll be introducing a constitutional amendment that would specifically just allow for online sports betting only. No brick and mortars, no casinos, horse racing kiosks, just online sports betting only,” Rep Wiedower said. 

He says this constitutional amendment would have the revenue going into the Georgia Lottery, which helps fund education in the state. And he said a portion would go towards helping with gambling addiction. 

“We are allowing for up to $20 million a year to go towards problem gaming efforts,” Wiedower said.

Trying to curb illegal gambling

Pappas says their data shows only those trying to gamble legally. So, the people who are actually betting on sports in Georgia is likely to be much higher. 

“We know that the illegal market is still very big in the U.S., particularly in states like Georgia, where they know they have a captive audience,” Pappas said. 

Wiedower says his main objective with this bill is to try and curb illegal gambling in the state. 

“We’re not doing anything to promote the gambling. We’re merely trying to bring the people that are participating into the legal market, provide guardrails and regulation for it,” Wiedower said.

Opposition to legalization

The other side:

Certain lawmakers in Georgia have tried to legalize sports betting in Georgia since 2019, when it was federally legalized. But groups like the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and Moms Against Gambling have opposed these measures from the start and continue to oppose it. 

They said they’re worried doing this would increase rates of gambling addiction. 

“What we’re going to see is it will exponentially make things worse. It’s going to increase addiction, and we’ve already seen that addiction rates increase the potential of suicide rates,” said Mike Griffin, Public Affairs Representative for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. 

He acknowledged that many in Georgia are gambling illegally, but he says that’s no reason to legalize it. 

“The Lord only knows what all is happening in our state that’s illegal. That all doesn’t need to be made legal,” Griffin said.

What’s next:

If Rep. Wiedower’s bill does pass this legislative session, it would mean the constitutional amendment would go onto the November ballot. If it gets passed by voters, then it likely wouldn’t go into effect until 2027.