Georgia Betting Sites

georgia sports betting

Throughout history, Georgia has been staunchly loud about its stance on gambling. It’s not allowed; there is nowhere to gamble legally, and you’ll have to look elsewhere if you want to gamble.

However, it’s possible that it can change shortly. Georgia failed to overturn the ban on online gambling this year. Still, they are determined to keep trying, which tells you something about Georgia residents and their appetite for legal sports betting. They love their sports – be it football, baseball, hockey, fantasy sports, eSports, college sports, etc., and they want to get involved. These two points combined make for a landscape that could be ready for online and physical casinos to move in the second the signature is dry on the bill.

Best New Jersey Sports Betting Site

Listed below are the online sportsbooks that accept Georgia residents:

Legal Online Georgia Sports Betting Sites

As much as everyone was hoping, unfortunately, the legalization of Georgia sports betting is not about to come to pass in 2022. Four major sports franchises of the major city of Atlanta, acting as the Georgia Professional Sports Integrity Alliance, lent their voices to support the movement and yet Georgia is still without sports betting. They came close, with two pieces of legislation approved in March of 2021, but lawmakers failed to reach the end of the legislative season with a resolution.

However, Georgia isn’t about to give up. Instead, the Peach State is now looking to join the other state markets offering legal mobile event wagering in the future, launching legal Georgia sports betting possibly in 2023 or later.

The two sports betting bills submitted in 2022 were SB 142 and SR135. SB 142 acted as a framework for the idea of allowing Georgia sports betting but didn’t make it to the House floor.

The citizens and key players of the Peach State seem very interested in the idea of Georgia sports betting but thus far have had trouble making it to the finish line. If Georgia is going to make sports betting happen in 2023, you can expect to see platforms like FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, BetRivers and Pointsbet make an appearance in the state with their apps.

However, there is talk about Florida legalizing online sports betting in the next five years. Since Florida is a state with a lot of tourism, this is more than likely to be the case, which means Georgian citizens can take a quick drive into Florida’s lit up cities for a visit and enjoy some online sports betting while they’re there. In Miami, you’ve got the Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Centre, which has an extensive sportsbook, in Tampa, you’ve got the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and plenty more land-based casinos.

All winnings earned over $5,000 will be taxed at 5.75%. An additional 24% is earmarked for the federal government. That might be readdressed with the introduction of legal Georgia sports betting, however, it is predicted to stay the same.

How To Pick a Georgia Sports Betting Site

The short answer is you wait until 2023 to see if they legalize sports betting- or you can look into other betting sites over the state borders.

As mentioned, Florida doesn’t yet have online betting; however, it has a lot of land-based casinos, including the Seminole Casinos in Brighton, Immokalee, Coconut Creek, Hollywood, and Tampa. Plus, extra venues are likely to have a sportsbook when sports betting is legalized here, such as the American Airlines Arena, the LoanDepot Park, Raymond James Stadium, Amalie Arena, and Tropicana Field.

Meanwhile, Tennessee allows online sports betting, so on top of their retail sports betting found in numerous casinos, they have allowed DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars, and more to enter the state. There are also Bally Bet, BetRivers, Gamewise, Fubo Gaming, PointsBet, Superbook, and Zen Sports to play when traveling into Tennessee, which is helpful for Georgians if they are heading into Tennessee to see the Titans play.

When Georgia sports betting does become legal, we could see apps and sites launching alongside mobile betting. When this occurs, it will be of vital importance that bettors choose to play with sites that are licensed by the chosen regulator of the state.

History/Timeline of Sports Betting in Georgia

Georgia has always supported keeping gambling as a whole illegal in the state since the 1800’s, when a gambling boom in gambling culture imploded. Georgia was suddenly outlawing everything from poker to lottery tickets, and other forms of gambling were all eventually held under this blanket ban across the state, however, recently attitudes have begun to change. The first step was the legalization of bingo in Georgia, stipulating that organizers made no profit. In November 1992, the Georgia State Lottery Amendment was approved, and the Georgia lottery was created. Since then, not much changed in state-wide gambling until 2018, when the Supreme Court was presented with the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which they promptly struck down. The PASPA was designed to allow states to set their own betting rules and regulations.

In 2020, the legalization of sports betting in Tennessee prompted a bill, SB 403, that would have allowed Georgia sports betting via mobile apps, but it died at the committee stage.

The latest attempt to get sports betting on the table in Georgia starts in March 2021, with SB 142 and SR 135, which pass and put lawmakers in a position to consider the move to legalizing Georgia sports betting in 2022. By the end of March, there is still no movement on the proposal, so SB 142 and SR 135 are postponed with a few of getting it passed in 2023, which should readdress the situation.

In March of 2022, Georgia lawmakers make another push for legalization with only a week left in the 2022 session. So close to the end, there is no approval of online sports betting, but there is hope that the issue will be readdressed in 2023. As in other states, legislators will likely keep presenting the Georgia sports betting bill until it passes into law.

There is no state regulation of sports betting sites until the state can legalize sports gambling. The major players in the United States gambling scene have refrained from participating because they intend to compete for a market share once online gambling is legalized.

It is reasonable to anticipate that the Georgia Lottery Corporation will be the entity in charge of regulating online sports wagers when the time comes for this to occur. You can anticipate that the state’s lottery regulators will be involved in the process if Georgia legalizes additional gambling types, such as online poker or casino gambling apps.

Georgia Sports Teams

Georgia’s teams mainly center around their biggest city: Atlanta. However, it’s worth mentioning that some tend to look across stateliness for a team to support where Georgia doesn’t provide one or doesn’t provide one with the desired results.

For example, football fans that have been disappointed by the performance of the Atlanta Falcons and their lack of a Super Bowl win might look to the Tennessee Titans or the Miami Dolphins in Florida to taste some victory. There is also the USFL team, the Birmingham Stallions in Alabama to support.

Basketball fans might relate, since the Atlanta Hawks’ last (and only) NBA title was earned in 1958, so they might look to Florida’s Miami Heat team, or Orlando Magic team. They might even look to the Memphis Grizzlies in Tennessee for a win.

However, there is plenty to choose from amongst the Minor League Soccer fans. Georgia has the Atlanta United team, Tennessee has Nashville SC, and Florida has the double threat of Inter Miami CF and Orlando City SC.

As for baseball, the MLB team for Georgia is the Atlanta Braves, which are often playing against their neighbors, Florida’s Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays.

And that’s all without mentioning the college teams, including the University of Georgia SEC team, the Georgia Institute of Technology ACC team, Georgia Southern University Sun Belt team, and more.

Betting on college sports is a massive industry all over the United States, particularly the sports of football and men’s basketball. Many states place restrictions on betting on collegiate sports. A few states do not allow betting on collegiate games involving teams from other states.

If that were the case, then it would be illegal to place bets on any of the teams that play their home games in the state of Georgia, including the Georgia Bulldog, the Georgia Southern Eagles, and the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets, and any other local teams.

Although some states have some kind of provision for betting in state college games, those states do not allow prop bets based on individual players.

We will be keeping a close eye on the outcome to see which side prevails: the historically anti-gambling state policies or the deeply ingrained culture of college football that permeates the state.

As was just mentioned, football is by far the most popular sport for betting in the United States but soccer is starting to make some headway. Soccer is a way of life in most of the rest of the world, and Atlanta United was able to bring the most recent U.S. Open Cup trophy back home with them before the pandemic halted play in the tournament.

Atlanta United has the highest average attendance in the MLS, and giving die-hard fans the chance to place a sports bet on games will only make their enthusiasm for the sport grow to new heights.

Retail Sports Betting in Georgia

Since all gambling, including tribal casinos, racing tracks, and online gambling options, are illegal in Georgia, there aren’t many options for locals to gamble. The only viable option is to go offshore, and by that, we mean you can board a cruise ship at Brunswick, which will take passengers out of state and allow them to gamble in the onboard casino.

However, suppose Georgia residents are willing to travel. In that case, they also have the option of venturing into their neighboring states of Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, and North Carolina, where there are plenty of land-based casinos to visit.

The only commercial casino in Alabama is the Centre State Bingo hall in Cottonwood. It might say bingo, but it also offers slot machines, and it is known to be an entertainment venue, often featuring live concerts and shows.

On the other hand, Florida has dozens of casinos, including commercial and tribal casinos, cruise casinos, racing tracks, and more. The three most prominent casinos in Florida are the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa, the Casino @ Dania Beach and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood. Both the Hard Rock Hotel and Casinos offer over 100 table games and 45 and 46 poker tables, respectively, and of course, are part of the Hard Rock Café brand and therefore are appealing to music fans who can awe at the music history artifacts or book a gig in the venue. The Casino @Dania Beach also offers entertainment gigs, along with their collection of 750 slot machines and electronic table games.

Tribal Casinos

As outlined above, Georgia sports betting though gambling in land-based casinos or online is not an option if you are a Georgia resident, and that extends to tribal casinos too. However, if you are willing to travel for your gambling, you can find tribal casinos scattered across the neighboring states.

North Carolina, for one, has only tribal casinos. There are two: the Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River and Harrah’s Cherokee, both of which can be found close to the western border, tantalizingly close to the Georgian city of Atlanta and all their Atlantan sports fans.

The Harrah’s Cherokee venues offer a range of table games, including blackjack, roulette, and poker, as well as an impressive sportsbook featuring pro and college sports and a viewing screen with a 32-foot-long big screen.

In Florida, the southern tourist state, there are tribal casinos, including the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, the Seminole Casino Hotel, and the Miccosukee Resort and Gaming Centre. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood offers much the same vibes as other Hard Rock venues, including fun bars and lounges, a guitar light show, and over 3,000 slot machines. The Seminole Casino Hotel offers stylish bars and lounges, outdoor concerts, over 1,400 slot machines, 38 live-action table games, and more. The Miccosukee Resort and Gaming feature kick it up with a notch by offering live events, a history tour, airboat, and other outdoor activities, and a golf club on top of its casino services.

There are also three tribal casinos in Alabama, all belonging to the company and tribe of Wind Creek: The Wind Creek Wetumpka, the Wind Creek Atmore, and the Wind Creek Montgomery. Together they provide 5,900 gaming machines, beautiful hotel rooms and suites, spas, live entertainment, golf courses, arcades, cinemas, clubs, bars, restaurants, and more.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Despite the slow trek to legalizing Georgia sports betting, fantasy sports gambling has been “tolerated” in the state of Georgia for years now. It’s a legal gray area because there is simply no law against it yet, but Georgia is one of only 9 out of the 50 states in the US that haven’t legalized fantasy sports betting yet. This allowance for fantasy sports betting is mainly because daily fantasy sports are considered a game of skill rather than chance. This has resulted in Georgia allowing fantasy sports betting and nothing else, which means the concept has grown in popularity over time.

This strict stance on gambling has resulted in many fantasy sports platforms in the Georgian state since there isn’t a limit on where you can bet on fantasy sports in Georgia. The two most prominent in Georgia are Monkey Knife Fight and Draft Kings, which offer competitive bonuses and a wide selection of sports.

Without the gambling element, fantasy games can be applied to just about any sport, especially team sports, and even extra activities that could be argued to be like sports, chess, and poker. But there is a range of popular sports due to the teams in Georgia, including the NFL, featuring the Atlanta Falcons, the NBA featuring the Atlanta Hawks, the MLB featuring the Atlanta Braves, and the MLS featuring Atlanta United F.C., plus college football across the state’s universities.

Monkey Knife Fight covers all these, plus golf, hockey, NASCAR, and eSports, including League of Legends, CS:GO, and DOTA 2. Draft Kings also covers these options, plus golf, MMA, NASCAR, F1, CFL, and eSports.

Offshore Sports Betting

Due to Georgia’s strict stance on any type of betting within the state, there is a lack of Georgia Sportsbook websites, leading to offshore betting growing in popularity over the years. However, a lot of offshore platforms should be avoided. If you are going to bet on an offshore online sportsbook, you should ensure that any platform you use is regulated. Unregulated platforms are not likely to be licensed and, by definition, aren’t regulated, which can negatively affect you and your wallet should something go wrong.

Unregulated platforms will not bother to give you your money back and will have no incentive to do so without an authority telling them to. If you are looking at offshore platforms, check that they are regulated by companies from Costa Rica or Curacao, which are considered safe to use since they are recognized internationally.

Georgia Horse Racing & Off-Track Betting

It is also the case that horse racing isn’t legal in Georgia, so there are no racetracks in Georgia either. If you like the idea of betting on the horses, you will have to travel to the neighboring state of Florida for your horse race betting options.

Florida has two racetracks: the Isle Casino Pompano, which offers standardbred harness horseracing, and Gulfstream Park, which offers thoroughbred racing.

The Isle Casino Pompano offers over 1,500 slot machines, a World Series of Poker poker room, and an impressive sportsbook. However, the Isle Casino Pompano appears to be closing its racetrack, according to a statement on its website.

Final Thoughts/Summary

Georgia is a state with a strict view on gambling and a long history of prohibiting gambling for its citizens. There is only one option for anyone living in the Peach State if they want to gamble: to go elsewhere. Whether it’s a visit to a neighboring state, a cruise out of state lines, or an offshore gambling platform, the message is clear: no gambling in Georgia.

However, that might not be the case for too long. The progress in legalizing Georgia sports betting is slow but steady. There is still hope that the sports betting legislation bill will pass by the House in 2023 and open up many new options for gamblers in the Peach State. Online and real-world casinos could spring up in the future, creating a new thriving industry in the state.

Until that happens, Georgian gambling fans will have to stick to fantasy gambling, which simply doesn’t have a law against it yet, or travel to get their chance to gamble.

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About Joe Kizlauskas

Joe is a seasoned iGaming copywriter and speaker who has been in the business since 2015. He's written more words on all elements of Casinos, Slots, Bingo & Sports Betting than he likes to remember, and he's contributed material to a number of well-known brands. Joe may be seen playing 5 a side, at the gym or playing games on his Playstation when he is not writing.