Georgia Sports Betting: Analyzing Legalization and Impact

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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]

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