Georgia does not have casinos, limiting access to legal casino gambling for residents. Luckily, offshore sites provide access to a range of games including poker, slots and sports betting – the only requirement being 18 or whatever age limit applies in their area whichever comes first – along with bonuses and other enticements designed to keep players coming back for more.
State taxes on casino winnings range from 5.75% and 24% withholding rates; should you win at a casino, your taxes must be withheld according to state law – this includes filing out and filling out a W-9 form which must be completed as required.
Though sports betting has long been an area of contention among lawmakers, their attempts at legalization remain unsuccessful due to strong opposition from faith-based groups who view online sports gambling as a potential threat for young people.
Georgia lawmakers face one major roadblock to legal sports betting: lack of funding sources for gambling businesses. Unfortunately, this has long been an issue preventing legalized sports gambling from coming to fruition; therefore legislators have begun advocating for constitutional amendments that would legalize sports gambling as an interim solution.
Legislators were hopeful of including sports betting legislation on the November ballot, but this proved impossible. Two pieces of gambling legislation – SR 135 and SB 142 – failed to garner enough support during the legislative session that ended March 4 and did not progress further into House committees.
Georgia will soon join other states that have legalized sports betting. Unfortunately, Georgian legislators’ inability to reach an agreement on how to regulate sports betting could delay it for some time, leaving Georgians forced to travel out-of-state just to make bets – an inconvenience for fans of their professional sports teams and used to having easy betting access on them. We hope the legislature can come up with a solution so sports betting begins here as soon as 2022!