(The Center Square) – A resolution that would allow Georgia voters to decide on legalized online sports betting failed to make it to the House floor on Thursday, which kills the bill for the 2025 legislative session.
House Resolution 450, sponsored by Rep. Marcus Wiedower, R-Watkinsville, would have given voters the chance to decide on the November 2026 ballot. House Bill 686 would set up the tax structure. Sports betting would be taxed at 24%, with proceeds going to the Georgia Lottery to support universal Pre-K.
“I appreciate all of my colleagues who added their names to this legislation and all of the Georgians who reached out to their legislators and encouraged them to legalize sports betting,” said Rep. Marcus Wiedower, the bill’s sponsor., in a quote provided to The Center Square by the Sports Betting Alliance. “We get a little closer every year, and I feel confident we’ll get this across the line to join the 39 other states that have already taken this step.
“I believe strongly – and Georgians by wide margins agree with me – that this change will not only bring in much needed revenue to educate our youngest learners but also provide consumer protections that don’t exist in today’s black market.”
Representatives heard 75 bills, a new record, House Speaker Jon Burns said as he closed out the day.
Lawmakers passed Gov. Brian Kemp’s tax $1 billion tax break that would give single filers $250 and married filing jointly filers $500.
The final bill passed by the House late Thursday night would give five wrongly convicted men compensation for the time they spent in prison.
Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, said Georgia is one of 11 states that does not have a method of compensation for wrongfully convicted people.
Two of the men included in House Resolution 128 are from Dempsey’s home county of Floyd.
Joey Watkins spent 22 years in prison after he was convicted of killing a man in 2001. He was released in 2022. The resolution includes compensation of $1.7 million for the Floyd County man.
The resolution includes $1.9 million for Daryl Lee Clark, who was wrongfully convicted in Floyd County of killing a teenager in 1998. He was released in December 2022.
Michael Woolfolk and Mario Stinchcomb’s murder convictions in the Fulton County murder of Jaketha Young were overturned after it was determined they acted in self-defense. The resolution seeks $1.35 million for Woolfolk and $975,000 for Stinchcomb.
Sedrick Moore was convicted of rape, robbery and burglary charges by a Colquitt County jury. He spent 21 years in prison, and the resolution is asking for $1.7 million in compensation.
Representatives passed the measure 151-12.
The resolution was passed in the House last year but was defeated in the Senate.
