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SportsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - All right, let's close it out with Georgia.
00:05 Sports betting still, of course, not legal in Georgia.
00:07 So let's be clear on that fact.
00:10 But again, parlay picks, props, things of that nature.
00:14 You can find these things becoming available.
00:16 And that's really the only way that folks in that area
00:19 can get their fix or at least come close
00:21 to doing any sports betting.
00:23 And it looks like Georgia's catching on to that as well,
00:25 saying, "Hey, look."
00:26 Again, New York being the barometer,
00:29 getting 50% tax, how much can we get out of these people
00:32 who were betting in Georgia?
00:33 - Yeah, Georgia's an interesting situation.
00:38 From all the folks I've talked to in the industry,
00:40 it's really their number one state they're focusing on
00:43 for legalization this year.
00:44 Obviously, it's a huge state with a lot of sports
00:47 and a lot of interests.
00:48 It's been hard, honestly, in the Deep South
00:51 to legalize sports betting.
00:52 You have different religious interests,
00:54 you have different partisan loyalties,
00:57 Georgia especially where it's mostly Republican.
00:59 If not all Republicans are behind it,
01:01 you need a few Democrats to get behind it.
01:03 And the Democrats don't always like voting
01:05 with the Republicans.
01:05 So it makes it difficult.
01:06 But the good news is that there is a bill already
01:09 just in the second day of session filed in Georgia
01:12 that would legalize sports betting.
01:14 The bad news is it's not considered so industry friendly.
01:19 It would actually do this really interesting thing
01:21 where it taxes all bets at one rate
01:24 and then bets that are seen at kind of quote unquote
01:26 high profit bets would be taxed at an even higher rate.
01:30 So straight bets would be taxed at a 20% rate,
01:33 which is sort of around standard for the industry,
01:36 but then parlays, player props,
01:39 other props of that kind of same ilk
01:42 and live bets would all be taxed at 25%.
01:45 So it's very unusual.
01:46 We haven't seen anything like this before.
01:48 From what I know, it's the first of its kind
01:50 where higher margin bets get taxed at a higher rate.
01:54 Kind of the thinking behind that is parlays
01:56 and props have been so profitable for sports books
01:59 over the past year.
02:00 We've seen their holds skyrocket across the board
02:03 from about 9% to maybe 14% some months,
02:07 which is really a big deal.
02:08 And obviously, if you're paying attention to the industry,
02:11 you're seeing these ads and promos for parlays
02:13 pushed all over the place.
02:15 So it's interesting that the state is realizing that
02:18 and saying, "Hey, let's make some more money off that
02:20 if that's what the sports books indeed are doing."
02:24 But it faces another uphill challenge
02:25 of a constitutional amendment,
02:27 which would also be hard to do
02:28 'cause it takes a lot more legislators to pass that.
02:31 So I wouldn't hold out your hope in Georgia,
02:33 but it is interesting to see kind of this new legislation
02:36 on the table there.
02:37 (upbeat music)
02:40 [MUSIC]