Lawmakers to introduce bills to allow casino-type gambling in Georgia

ATLANTA — Two Georgia lawmakers will introduce bills to bring casino-type gambling to Georgia, but only if its attached to mega-sized destination resorts.

State Sen. Brandon Beach (R) Alpharetta and State Rep. Ron Stephens (R) Savannah plan to introduce the bills in both houses Wednesday.  The bills require the casinos to pay 20 percent of gambling revenues to the state to help pay for HOPE scholarships, needs-based scholarships and Pre-K programs.

"Anytime you can create jobs and invest in education, I'm all for that," said Beach.

The two bills are virtually identical and would allow only two casinos in Georgia; one in the Metro Atlanta area and another in a smaller, secondary city like Savannah or Columbus.  Developers would be required to invest a minimum of $2-billion in the Atlanta resort and $450-million in the secondary city resort.

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Beach and Stephens believe local municipalities would benefit from the sales and property taxes generate and from what, they said, would be the creation of thousands of new jobs.

"Where the locals do well is on the hotel tax, the property tax on a $2-billion investment, the restaurants and the retail and the entertainment," Beach said.

Mike Griffin of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board said he opposes the idea on moral and economic grounds.

"We've had some stats over the years that show crime goes up, bankruptcies go up, addiction goes up, jobs go down, savings go down, and spending on basics go down," said Griffin.  "It's just simply a bad bet."

The bills would have to pass both houses, then both houses would have to approve a Constitutional amendment, and then voters would decide.  That could not happen before November 2018.

Cox Media Group