Georgia's House Higher Education Committee passed a package of sports betting bills that ultimately could send at least $22.5m per year to problem and responsible gambling programmes should the state legalise mobile wagering later today.
Today (28 March) Georgia’s General Assembly is set to adjourn by 11.59pm EST. The Higher Education Committee passed amended versions of SR 579 and SB 386, and the Rules Committee put the package on its agenda less than 30 minutes later, but has not yet sent it to the house floor.
Should the house pass the package, it would have to go back to the senate for concurrence or to a conference committee because the bills were amended.
The issue has been sitting in the Higher Education Committee for more than a month as lawmakers rallied support and massaged the bills to find a consensus. As recently as Wednesday (27 March) the proposals were laid over due to lack of support. It was not clear until the vote was called Thursday morning that there was..