Georgia Renews Push to Legalize Mobile Sports Betting Without a Constitutional Amendment

The bill was introduced in 2025 and carried forward under the legislature’s two-year session rules. Its legal structure draws on a model that previously cleared the Georgia Senate in 2024, when lawmakers approved a lottery-run sports betting framework without a referendum.

How HB 910 Works

HB 910 authorizes online sports betting only, with no physical sportsbooks, casinos, or racetracks. The Georgia Lottery would oversee all wagering.

The lottery-based structure is strategic. Georgia’s Constitution permits lotteries but otherwise bans gambling unless voters approve an amendment. HB 910 treats sports betting as a form of lottery gaming, allowing its legalization by statute rather than by referendum.

That framework is expressed in Georgia law as follows:

“Article I, Section II, Paragraph VIII(c) of the Constitution of the State of Georgia authorizes the General Assembly to provide by law for any matters relating to purposes or provisions of that subparagraph, which purposes and provisions may encompass sports betting as a game or games offered by the Georgia Lottery Corporation.”

Net revenue must be routed into lottery-approved education programs:

“Net proceeds of sports betting conducted pursuant to this article shall be used for the purposes authorized by Article I, Section II, Paragraph VIII(c) of the Constitution.”

HB 910 maintains the same constitutional structure.

Up to 18 Commercial Sportsbooks

While the Georgia Lottery would serve as the master regulator, private sportsbook operators, such as DraftKings and FanDuel, would be eligible to operate the betting platforms under HB 910.

The statute defines the product as:

“ ‘Sports betting’ means online sports betting.”

And vests regulatory authority in the Lottery:

“ ‘Master sports betting licensee’ means the Georgia Lottery Corporation.”

Under the bill, the Lottery may issue up to 18 Type 1 online sportsbook licenses.

Applicants must pay a non-refundable application fee of $ 100,000 and an annual license fee of $1.5 million. Sportsbook platforms would pay a 25% tax on their adjusted gross gaming revenue.

HB 910 allocates the licenses to specific Georgia entities: five for professional sports teams, one each for the PGA Tour, Augusta National, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the Georgia Lottery, plus two for National Steeplechase Association-approved horse-racing operators.

Sportsbook operators would receive the remaining seven licenses through a competitive procurement process.

The 2024 Senate Vote Was the Closest Georgia Has Come

The idea behind HB 910 is not a new one.

In 2024, the Georgia Senate passed Senate Bill 386, which created the same lottery-run sports betting system now embedded in HB 910. That includes the same constitutional theory, the same mobile-only structure, and the same licensing architecture.

SB 386 cleared the Senate but stalled in the House, making it the closest Georgia has ever come to legalizing sports betting without a constitutional amendment.

SB 386 defined sports betting as a lottery game, designating the Georgia Lottery as the master licensee. It also constitutionally mandated that all proceeds go towards education — the same framework now applied in HB 910.

Political Momentum Could Be Shifting

Georgia is the third-largest state by population after California and Texas, without legal sports betting. That’s not due to lack of effort. Lawmakers have introduced legislation in each of the sessions since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the national ban in 2018.

In 2025, there were two bills in the House, including HB 910, and one in the Senate, none of which made progress. However, there’s a growing number of supporters who see sports betting as a potential revenue source.

Notably, in December 2025, a Senate tourism committee recommended that the state legalize sports betting as a means to raise funds to keep Georgia competitive with neighboring states in terms of tourism.

The rise of federally regulated prediction markets has also complicated the political landscape, as some analysts argue that it increases pressure on holdout states to adopt traditional sports betting frameworks.