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00:03 Georgia is one of the states here in the US
00:07 that there's a lot of speculation
00:08 is next in line, potentially, to get sports betting legalized.
00:13 They're having a hearing, as you mentioned right now.
00:15 You took a break to join us.
00:17 Where does this stand in terms of dynamics?
00:20 Because once upon a time, maybe a year ago,
00:22 us doing the show, Pat, you and I talked, oh,
00:25 forget the South.
00:26 Florida, never going to happen.
00:27 Kentucky, never going to happen.
00:28 Mississippi, can't even get online.
00:30 Well, here we go.
00:31 The South has been way more aggressive getting
00:34 sports betting than we would have anticipated.
00:36 Is Georgia next?
00:39 Yeah, to your point, coming into this year,
00:44 all these states-- Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi--
00:47 Mississippi already has retail sports betting, of course.
00:49 But they want to go online.
00:51 South Carolina-- all these states
00:52 have been kind of dragging their feet a little bit
00:55 and saying, maybe sports betting isn't for us.
00:59 We'll see what happens in Alabama and Mississippi
01:02 going forward.
01:03 But in Georgia, we had a little bit of a big development
01:06 last week.
01:09 In the past couple of years, we've
01:11 seen some promising efforts that give us a little bit of hope
01:15 that maybe it'll get done.
01:16 And then it fizzles out, because in Georgia, you've
01:18 got a very fickle political kind of map to figure out.
01:25 And sports betting, although we think it's super important,
01:30 it falls down below plenty of other issues.
01:34 And you've got the Republicans, who control the majority
01:39 in Georgia, who--
01:40 they'll do something that the Democrats don't
01:42 like early in the session.
01:43 And the Democrats dig in their feet and say, no,
01:46 we're not going to help you with any issues.
01:48 And sports betting is one of those issues
01:50 that you need Democratic support,
01:53 because there are some Republicans on the majority
01:56 side who say, we don't like sports betting.
01:59 And you've got people on the Democrat side
02:01 who also don't like sports betting.
02:01 So it has to be a bipartisan issue.
02:04 This bill that came out last week, interestingly enough,
02:08 has 12 sponsors, almost as many Democratic sponsors
02:11 as Republican.
02:12 This is a Republican-led bill, but you
02:14 have the Senate minority leader on board as well,
02:17 which that's a huge progressive step, I think,
02:21 for sports betting in Georgia.
02:22 I mean, heading into the year, I had multiple industry sources
02:25 tell me they were hopeful, but worried politics
02:27 would get in the way, particularly
02:29 in a presidential election year.
02:32 And so far, this seems to be not that big of an issue.
02:37 It seems like they're rallying behind this.
02:39 They realize it's a big source of potential
02:41 for pre-K funding.
02:43 And that's what they're excited about.
02:45 There was a hearing this morning, as you mentioned.
02:48 The committee favored the bill 8-2.
02:50 It goes on to the Rules Committee
02:52 and could be on the Senate floor later this week.
02:55 And so that's a bill we're going to keep an eye on.
02:59 So yeah, I mean, there's only, I think, 36 senators.
03:02 It's got 12 Senate sponsors.
03:04 So you only need a simple majority,
03:05 because they're getting around the need
03:08 for a constitutional amendment by tying it
03:11 to the Georgia lottery.
03:13 And so they only need the simple majority.
03:15 And that's only a few extra votes.
03:17 So this is a huge step for Georgia.
03:20 And it could be a sign that it could be this year's Kentucky.
03:23 Remember last year, we didn't know
03:24 Kentucky had any sort of chance.
03:26 And they just kind of slipped it through and said, hey,
03:28 we're here.
03:28 And now they're live with sports betting.
03:30 And so that could be Georgia this year.
03:32 On the flip side, who knows what's
03:34 going on in the House right now.
03:36 And that's where the politics could come into play some more
03:39 as we get further into the session
03:41 and see how the parties are playing together
03:44 on that side of the aisle.
03:47 So yeah, Georgia, lots of positive steps.
03:49 It would be 17 licenses, including eight for teams.
03:53 And like Augusta National would have one,
03:56 the PGA Tour and NASCAR, as well as five teams in Atlanta.
03:59 And then seven standalone licenses as well,
04:03 and a Georgia lottery skin.
04:04 So it's a pretty fun framework.
04:07 20% of taxes, 20% tax.
04:11 And so the framework's there.
04:13 I talked to a source who was on the ground in Georgia,
04:17 hobnobbing with politicians.
04:18 And he said, it's got legs.
04:20 It's bipartisan support.
04:21 The lieutenant governor likes it.
04:23 But yeah, it's really just seeing
04:25 how the rest of the session plays out politically
04:27 in Georgia.
04:28 (upbeat music)
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