Professional sport was once a bitter, nation-wide opponent of sports-betting, but this is no longer the case.
Led by New Jersey, 13 states have legalized sports-betting since the law prohibiting it was dropped in May 2018 and 35 more are working at it. In some cases professional sports bodies have set up partnerships in states with licensed sportsbooks.
Georgia, home of the famed Master’s golf championship and the Atlanta Braves, Falcons and Hawks was not one of them. Until now.
On Monday the CEOs of Atlanta’s top four professional sports bodies called for sports betting to made legal in Georgia.
Their call was made in a letter sent the state’s General Assembly by the newly-established Georgia Professional Sports Integrity Alliance (GPSIA).
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The GPSIA is made up of representatives of the Atlanta Braves baseball, the Falcons football, the Hawks basketball and the United soccer teams. They insist that legal sports betting is the best way to eliminate the $150 billion annually wagered offshore or illegally at home.
“A new state law to legalize mobile and online professional sports wagering,” the letter states, “will bring needed revenue to Georgia.”
And because it will also “offer safeguards to protect the integrity of professional sports” it will “disinfect the illegal wagering industry in our state,” the letter stated.
The letter was jointly signed by
- Derek Schiller, president & CEO of the Braves.
- Rich McKay, president & CEO of the Falcons.
- Steve Koonin, president & CEO of the Hawks.
- And Darren Eales, president of Atlanta United.
The GPSIA has pointed out that it is not necessary to have in-person betting facilities at Casinos and Race tracks. Tennessee and New Hampshire have no brick-and-mortar betting facilities, but have are allowing online betting via laptops and smartphones.
More than 80% of NJ’s handle comes in online
New Jersey’s year-old betting industry has surpassed long-established Nevada in three of the last five months. It gets 80% of its betting handle online.
New York, which has four up-state Casinos and no online betting, meanwhile saw a down turn in the number of bets it took last month
New kid on the betting block Indiana, on the other hand, nearly tripled its handle in October, the first month it introduced mobile and online wagering. Largely driven by New Jersey market leaders FanDuel and DraftKings, its monthly handle rocketed 260.5% from $35.2m to $91.7M. Its adjusted gross revenue climbed 33.7% from $8.6m to $11.5m.
The GPSIA’s four sports bosses are aware they will not benefit directly from tax revenue. They do believe, however, that betting activity in each of their sports would increase the interest and passion of their fans.
Georgia lawmakers, who’ve been busy debating gambling this fall, are not expected to get onto sports betting legislation until January, 2020.
