Is sports betting legal in Georgia?
No. Georgia has no retail or online sportsbook, and it doesn't have casinos or pari-mutuel wagering either. The state constitution bans lotteries, pari-mutuel betting and casino gambling except for the state lottery, nonprofit bingo and nonprofit raffles, and most lawmakers treat a new constitutional amendment as the price of legal sports betting. The latest one, HR 450, lost 63-98 on the House floor on March 6, 2026.
Why it isn't legal yet
An amendment needs two-thirds of each chamber (120 of 180 House members and 38 of 56 senators) and then a majority of voters. The Senate adopted sports betting amendments by that margin in 2021 and 2024, but no amendment has passed both chambers in the same form. The other route, a statute that treats sports betting as a lottery game run by the Georgia Lottery Corporation, passed the Senate in 2024 only after senators tied it to a constitutional amendment.
No sports betting bill is alive as of September 27, 2026. The 2025-2026 term ended at sine die on April 2, 2026, so any 2027 measure starts over. Amendments go on Georgia ballots in even years, which makes November 2028 the earliest statewide vote.
The history of sports betting law in Georgia
Georgia gambling law before Murphy
Article I, Section II, Paragraph VIII of the 1983 constitution prohibits "all lotteries, and the sale of lottery tickets, and all forms of pari-mutuel betting and casino gambling" and requires that the ban be enforced by penal laws. Voters carved out a state lottery on November 3, 1992, approving Amendment 1 by 1,146,349 to 1,050,674 (52.18%). The Lottery for Education Act created the Georgia Lottery Corporation, which hired its first president, Rebecca Paul, in February 1993 and started selling tickets on June 29, 1993. Lottery money pays for education, and most later sports betting bills proposed sending their tax revenue to the same HOPE scholarship and pre-K programs.
The criminal code defines a bet as an agreement that, "dependent upon chance even though accompanied by some skill," one stands to win or lose something of value, with an exception for prizes paid to the actual contestants in a bona fide contest of skill (O.C.G.A. § 16-12-20). A civil statute, O.C.G.A. § 13-8-3, voids gambling contracts. It lets a loser sue the winner within six months, and after that anyone may sue within four years for the joint use of himself and the county's educational fund. The first prediction market suit filed in Georgia rests on that law.
After Murphy: 2020 to 2022
In 2020, SB 403 from Sen. Burt Jones proposed mobile-only betting under the Georgia Lottery with a 10% tax and a $900,000 annual license fee. Rep. Ron Stephens' HR 378 proposed an amendment covering sports betting, casinos and horse racing. Neither passed its chamber by Crossover Day. After COVID-19 suspended the session on March 14, 2020, sponsors attached the language to HB 903 and SR 841, but the session ended June 26 without a vote.
On March 5, 2021 the Senate passed SB 142, 34-17, and adopted SR 135, its companion amendment, 41-10. A House committee reported SB 142 on March 23, and the bill was then withdrawn and recommitted twice before the session ended March 31. Both carried into 2022. The committee reported SB 142 again on March 29, 2022, and on April 4, the last day, the House adopted a substitute SR 135 by 160-6. The Senate didn't take it up again, and both died.
2023 to 2025
In 2023 the Senate rejected SB 57 by 19-37 on March 2, and SR 140, an amendment led by Sen. Bill Cowsert, drew 30-26 on March 6, eight votes short of 38. HB 380 never got a House vote.
Sen. Clint Dixon's SB 386 in 2024 set up sports betting as a lottery game with 16 licenses and a 20% tax. Cowsert argued the 1992 voters had never approved sports betting and won a floor amendment, 34-7, making the bill contingent on a constitutional amendment. The Senate passed SB 386 by 35-15 on February 1, 2024 and adopted the amendment, SR 579, by 41-12 on February 27. The House Higher Education Committee reported both on March 28, the session's last day, and neither reached the floor. House Minority Whip Sam Park said Democrats objected to the committee's change in how the tax money would be split between HOPE and pre-K.
In 2025, SR 131 from Sens. Carden Summers, Billy Hickman, Brandon Beach and Lee Anderson would have authorized both sports betting and casino gambling. It was filed February 4 and died in the Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee, as did Hickman's SB 208. Rep. Marcus Wiedower's HR 450 and its enabling bill, HB 686, cleared House Higher Education on March 6, 2025 but missed Crossover Day and were recommitted on April 4. HB 910, filed April 2, 2025, proposed lottery-run mobile betting with up to 18 licenses, a 25% tax and a $1.5 million annual fee. In early December 2025, a Senate study committee on tourism created by SR 323 recommended that Georgia legalize mobile sports betting.
The 2026 session
Rep. Matt Reeves carried HR 450 after Wiedower left the House in the fall of 2025. The Higher Education Committee reported HR 450 and HB 686 on March 6, 2026, Crossover Day. HR 450 failed on third reading just before midnight with 63 yeas and 98 nays, 57 short of 120. LegiScan's roll call shows 44 Republicans and 19 Democrats voting yes. Rep. Al Williams, a co-sponsor, spoke against it and said Democrats had no say in how the revenue would be divided. HB 910 got its second reading on January 12, 2026 and never left committee. The session adjourned April 2.
Casino and racing proposals
Paragraph VIII names casino gambling and pari-mutuel betting in its ban, so both need an amendment. HR 378 in 2020 and SR 131 in 2025 paired casinos with sports betting, and neither passed a chamber. A 2021 Senate resolution for pari-mutuel wagering at licensed racetracks went no further than committee referral, and a Senate committee heard another racing proposal in February 2022 without advancing it. HB 910 would have set aside two sports betting licenses for horse racing operators approved by the National Steeplechase Association.
Sports betting court cases in Georgia
Georgia Gambling Recovery LLC v. Kalshi Inc. (M.D. Ga.)
Georgia Gambling Recovery LLC sued Kalshi's companies, Susquehanna International Group, Robinhood and Webull on June 12, 2025 in the State Court of Muscogee County (No. SC2025CV001749), seeking to recover Georgians' losses on sports event contracts under § 13-8-3. The plaintiff is one of several similarly named LLCs formed in Delaware on March 18, 2025 that filed similar suits in six states. Kalshi and Robinhood removed the case on October 2, 2025 to the Middle District of Georgia (No. 4:25-cv-00310, Judge Clay D. Land), where the Robinhood removal was consolidated into it.
Land denied remand on February 2, 2026. He held that the claim raises a substantial federal question, because whether federal law preempts Georgia law as applied to the contracts is a purely legal question and arguably dispositive, and that the Class Action Fairness Act also supplied jurisdiction. The plaintiff amended its complaint on March 10, and the defendants moved to dismiss on March 31. On May 15 the plaintiff dropped Robinhood, and on May 18 Land granted its unopposed motion to stay the case for six months, with the stay extended automatically if the Supreme Court grants certiorari on preemption. There hasn't been a ruling on the merits.
Kaiserman v. Kalshi Inc. (N.D. Ga.)
Brian Kaiserman, who opened his Kalshi account in Georgia, filed a class action in the Northern District of Georgia on March 20, 2026 (No. 1:26-cv-01525, Judge Victoria M. Calvert). He sued four Kalshi companies and executives Tarek Mansour, Luana Lopes Lara and Joshua Beardsley under the Commodity Exchange Act, alleging that CFTC Rule 40.11 bars contracts involving gaming and that the sports contracts should never have been listed. Kalshi moved on May 14, 2026 to transfer the case to the Southern District of New York, where In re Kalshi Sports Prediction Market Litigation is consolidated. The motion went to the judge on June 25, 2026, and we couldn't confirm whether it has been decided.
Hardin v. NBC Universal (Ga. 2008)
The Georgia Supreme Court read § 13-8-3 in 2008, answering questions certified by the Northern District of Georgia about the "Lucky Case Game" on Deal or No Deal. It held in Hardin v. NBC Universal, 283 Ga. 477, that the statute did not let players recover their 99-cent text-message entry fees from the game's organizers.
Federal appeals rulings that bear on Georgia
The Eleventh Circuit, which covers Georgia, hasn't ruled on whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling law for sports event contracts. The Third Circuit ruled for Kalshi against New Jersey on April 6, 2026 in KalshiEX v. Flaherty (No. 25-1922). The Ninth Circuit ruled the other way on August 28, 2026 in KalshiEX v. Assad (No. 25-7516), and Kalshi sought rehearing en banc on September 9. On September 25, 2026 the Sixth Circuit held in KalshiEX v. Schuler (Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235) that the contracts aren't swaps and that the act doesn't preempt state gambling laws. None of those decisions binds federal courts in Georgia. New Jersey's certiorari petition is No. 26-299, with Kalshi's response due November 9, 2026, and the length of the Georgia Gambling Recovery stay depends on whether the Court takes up preemption.
Prediction markets and daily fantasy
We found no cease-and-desist letter, lawsuit or attorney general opinion from Georgia officials against Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com, Robinhood, Underdog or Novig, and no Georgia statute addresses prediction markets. The two private suits above are the only Georgia prediction market cases we found. Kalshi accepts Georgia users 18 and older, and FanDuel and DraftKings offer their prediction market apps in the state. Novig, which operates as Ludlow Exchange, LLC, a CFTC designated contract market since June 16, 2026, excludes only Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, and it requires users to be 21 with ID.
Georgia doesn't have a daily fantasy statute or regulator. In February 2016, Deputy Attorney General Wright Banks Jr., answering the Georgia Lottery, wrote that daily fantasy contests are not authorized under Georgia law, and he labeled the letter informal advice. The House passed HB 118, a licensing bill with a 6% tax, by 126-32 on March 1, 2017, but it died in the Senate. Stephens' HB 1329 cleared a House committee in 2024 and went no further. PrizePicks, based in Atlanta, runs contests in Georgia, as do Underdog, DraftKings and FanDuel, generally for players 18 and older.
Help with a gambling problem
The Georgia Council on Problem Gambling runs the state-funded helpline at 1-800-715-4225.
Sources
Georgia Constitution, Article I, Section II, Paragraph VIII (FindLaw)
Georgia Amendment 1, State Lottery for Education Amendment, 1992 (Ballotpedia)
Georgia sports betting bills left behind in 2020 (LegalSportsBetting)
Georgia sports betting legislative timeline (Legal Sports Report)
Senate approves SB 386 with amendment requirement (Legal Sports Report)
HB 686, Georgia Sports Betting Act (Georgia General Assembly)
Senate tourism study committee recommends mobile sports betting (Casino.org)
Kalshi litigation tracker, Georgia entries (MickBransfield.com)
Georgia Gambling Recovery LLC v. Kalshi Inc., No. 4:25-cv-00310, docket (CourtListener)
Kaiserman v. Kalshi Inc., No. 1:26-cv-01525, docket (Justia)
KalshiEX v. Schuler, Sixth Circuit opinion, September 25, 2026 (Justia)
Georgia deputy attorney general's 2016 letter on daily fantasy (Legal Sports Report)
House passes HB 118 on fantasy sports (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)