It will, and should, be up to the voters to decide whether gambling expands in Georgia
Do you like to bet on sports? Do you have a passion for horse racing? Or do you like to do your best James Bond impersonation and hit the casinos, looking to beat the house?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions you know you have to leave the state of Georgia to scratch your high-stakes gaming itch, but that could change soon. Our state legislature is expected to give serious consideration to legalizing sports betting, horse racing, and casino operation during the upcoming legislative session.
It’s not the first time the possibility of loosening up restrictions on in-state gambling has been discussed in Atlanta. Lobbyists for the gaming industry have been whispering in the ears of state officials about all the wonderful things legalized gambling can do for the government (mainly filling its coffers with new tax revenue) for a number of years. This year they seem to be more receptive to the idea than ever before.
That’s probably because we are experiencing budget shortfalls for the first time in a while (budget cuts are expected for this fiscal year and the next) and a new source of income from the gaming industry might be more palatable to voters than a tax increase or even more drastic budget cuts.
But we should expect there to be resistance from our more morally upright legislators who don’t want the state to encourage Georgians to indulge in the sin of gambling. This is the same legislature that passed a law last year that could outlaw virtually all abortions in the state if it holds up in court, after all. They are pretty serious about keeping the state on the straight-and-narrow.
But they also like getting reelected, and the revenue generated by gaming operations might be hard to resist. To quote the old Glenn Frey song “Smuggler’s Blues” — “it’s the lure of easy money, it’s got a very strong appeal.”
To be sure, the new income would be a boon for the state. But the downside can’t be ignored. Some people get addicted to gambling, and we’d all be a party to feeding that addiction if we allow horse tracks and casinos to start operating in our state. It’s fair to suggest that the money would be somewhat tainted, and that some lives would be ruined and families thrown into bankruptcy if we allow these businesses to operate in our state.
It would be nice if we lived in a world where we were all happy to pay whatever is required in taxes to allow the government to build roads, pay teachers and police officers, and even educate our children through college without having to rely on morally troubling “sin taxes” to do all the things we want them to do and stay in the black financially.
In the world we live in, however, tax increases are always a hard sell, especially when most of us don’t trust the government to spend our money responsibly anyway. So we look to alternatives that seem like voluntary contributions from people who we assume would probably find a way to indulge in their vices even if they can’t do so legally. We have a way of rationalizing things like this, and I suspect that the loosening of our laws that regulate gambling is going to happen eventually.
But don’t worry — there will be no casinos or horse tracks in our state unless voters give their stamp of approval to the idea. The state Constitution would have to be amended to allow more forms of gambling to be legally practiced in Georgia, and that would require two-thirds approval in each branch of our state legislature followed by a public referendum.
Ultimately it will be up to voters to decide. And for an issue as contentious as this one is, I think that’s for the best.
Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Readers can write him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.