The Georgia casino bill most people are searching for is not actually a casino bill. The closest recent effort is Senate Bill 386, paired with Senate Resolution 579, which would have legalized online sports betting rather than brick-and-mortar casinos. Both measures cleared the Senate in 2024 but died in the House, and no sports betting or casino legislation advanced in the 2025 session either. Any real expansion of gambling in Georgia also requires a constitutional amendment approved by voters, so even a bill that passes next year could not take effect immediately.
Sports Betting, Not Casinos
Georgia’s constitution flatly bans casino gambling and pari-mutuel betting. Article I, Section II, Paragraph VIII states that “all forms of pari-mutuel betting and casino gambling are hereby prohibited” and that the prohibition “shall be enforced by penal laws.”1Georgia Secretary of State. Constitution of the State of Georgia The only existing exceptions are the state lottery, authorized by voters in 1992, and nonprofit bingo and charitable raffles.
Because physical casinos face the steepest political and constitutional climb, lawmakers pushing to expand gambling have focused on mobile sports betting as the first realistic step. SB 386 would not authorize casino resorts, slot machines, table games, or horse racing. Those would each need their own constitutional and statutory changes. If you came looking for a bill that would bring Las Vegas-style gaming floors to Atlanta or Savannah, no such measure is currently moving.
What SB 386 Would Do
SB 386 is the enabling legislation that would set the rules for a legal sports betting market, assuming voters first approved the constitutional amendment contained in SR 579. The main provisions reported from the bill:
- Up to 16 online sports betting licenses issued by the state.
- A 20 percent tax on operators’ adjusted gross gaming income.
- A $100,000 application fee plus an annual renewal fee for each operator.
- Legal wagers on professional and collegiate sports, individual athlete performances, and esports.
- Five percent of sports betting revenue set aside for gambling addiction treatment and prevention.
The bill would create a new gaming commission to license and regulate operators, separate from the Georgia Lottery Corporation. The commission would handle license applications, enforce compliance, and have authority to fine or revoke operators that violate state rules. Applicants would face background investigations covering criminal history, financial stability, and ties to organized crime.
Betting under SB 386 would be online only. There is no provision for retail sportsbooks inside physical venues, and nothing in the bill creates casinos of any kind.
Why Legalization Requires a Constitutional Amendment
No matter what the General Assembly passes as a regular bill, legal sports betting or casino gambling cannot exist in Georgia until the constitutional ban is lifted. That lift happens through a resolution, not a statute.
Under the Georgia Constitution, any proposed amendment has to originate as a resolution in the Senate or House, then win approval from a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers through a recorded roll-call vote.2Justia. Georgia Constitution Article X – Amendments to the Constitution If a resolution clears both chambers, it goes on the ballot at the next general election held in an even-numbered year, where a simple majority of voters decides the question.
That two-thirds requirement in the House is where gambling expansion has died repeatedly. The Senate has often had the votes. The House has not. SR 579 is the constitutional amendment piece; SB 386 is the policy framework. The two travel together: without the amendment, the framework has no legal foundation; without the framework, the amendment leaves a vacuum.
Where the Bill Stands Now
SR 579 passed the Georgia Senate on February 27, 2024, by a vote of 41 to 12, clearing the two-thirds threshold in that chamber. The resolution did not pass the full legislature before the 2024 session adjourned, so it never reached the November 2024 ballot. SB 386 followed the same fate. Nothing similar advanced during the 2025 session.
The pattern repeats itself. Georgia lawmakers have introduced some version of gambling expansion for more than a decade. Religious and social conservatives oppose it on principle, fiscal supporters point to tax revenue, and lobbying continues from gaming industries in neighboring states that currently take Georgians’ bets. Each session the debate restarts, and each session the House supermajority proves elusive.
For sports betting to become legal in Georgia, a new resolution would have to be introduced, pass both chambers by a two-thirds vote, and win approval from voters at a future even-year general election. The enabling bill would need to pass alongside it. Even under the fastest realistic timeline, legal wagering is years away.
Where the Money Would Go
SB 386 directs sports betting tax revenue to education, following the model Georgia built with its lottery. The targets are the HOPE Scholarship, Zell Miller Scholarships, and the statewide voluntary pre-kindergarten program.
Since 1993, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has raised over $30.2 billion for education, funding more than 2.25 million HOPE Scholarship recipients and serving more than 2.2 million four-year-olds through pre-K.3Governor Brian P. Kemp Office of the Governor. Gov. Kemp: Georgia Lottery Reaches Over $30 Billion for Education Supporters argue sports betting tax revenue would reinforce those programs as tuition costs and enrollment climb.
How much revenue a Georgia market would generate is uncertain. One fiscal analysis estimated roughly $89 million per year from a mature market, though that projection assumed a 10 percent tax rate rather than the 20 percent in SB 386. Actual revenue would depend on market size, the number of licensed operators, and how many bettors move from offshore and illegal platforms to legal ones.
Alongside the education allocation, the five percent problem gambling set-aside would fund addiction treatment, a state helpline, and public awareness campaigns. States with legal sports betting typically also require operators to offer self-exclusion programs, which let a person voluntarily block themselves from licensed platforms for a set period. Whether a future Georgia bill keeps the five percent figure, raises it, or trims it will depend on the version that eventually moves.