Casino operators know Georgia is an obviously great frontier for potential gaming development. The challenge is cobbling together a plan that satisfies enough parties – and those parties serve a broad range of constituents.
Since 2015, legislators have been proposing a statewide amendment that would let Georgia voters decide on the casino issue, but they can’t quite get over the hump.
Georgia state representative Ron Stephens is among those who are promoting hotel-resorts as a source of significant revenue potential for the state. About a decade ago, a Stephens bill created incentives that have brought about a boom in the Georgia film industry.
“It took several years to do that, and it could be the same for this,” he said. “And for those who don’t know (me), I don’t give up.”
Here’s the political process: Legislative action is the only way to get an amendment on the ballot in Georgia – as opposed to some states, which can get one on via a petition drive – and it takes a two-thirds vote in each chamber. So that means 120 of the 180 members of the House and 38 of the 56 state senators would need to approve in order to bring an amendment to ballot.
Stephens predicted at least 65 percent of voters would approve the amendment, which could bring three to six casinos to the state.
Panelists at the Southern Gaming Summit on Thursday discussed ways to get to that 120 and that 38. Joining Stephens were: Ryan Soultz, director of governmental affairs for the Boyd Gaming Corporation; Chris Anulewicz, a partner with Balch & Bingham; and Jeff Morris, vice president of public affairs and government relations for Penn National Gaming.
Of the state’s 10.4 million residents, 5.6 million live in the greater Atlanta area. Maintaining a balance between the wishes of a large urban constituency and those of very rural voters is a challenge, as it is in many other states.
Potential ways to satisfy enough legislators (and their constituents) include adjusting where gambling revenues would go.
Georgia lottery money currently goes to the state’s HOPE program, which was created to provide college scholarship funding and other educational support. Some speculate that a proposal to use casino tax revenues to, say, fund health care– a big issue in rural Georgia – would attract additional support.
“The biggest problem we have now in Georgia is in the health care industry (as it’s) related to rural hospitals,” Stephens said. “That will be part of the conversation. Most of our resistance is from southwest and northwest Georgia, where they don’t feel like they have anything to gain.
“I’ll put [legislators] in a position where they’ll have to vote against their hospital, and that will be enough to put this over the top.”
Others argue that bringing casinos to Georgia would prevent dollars from going elsewhere. Western Georgians frequent the Native American casinos in Alabama and even Biloxi, and Northern Georgians are not that far away from the Indian casinos in North Carolina.
Proponents see a way to, almost, flip that script. Savannah, for example, is only an hour away from the million-plus residents just across the Florida line in Jacksonville, and Tennessee and Kentucky travelers could easily zip to a venue in the northwest part of the state. And legislation isn’t going to approve commercial casinos in South Carolina, Alabama or Florida anytime soon.
Meanwhile, two Georgia municipalities, Columbus and Augusta, have taken a step toward playing the game. Leaders in both communities have passed resolutions stating their interest in putting the casino option to a statewide vote, and then giving their residents a chance to approve or disapprove via local referendum.
The panelists also noted that political changes are coming to a state that has moved from red to almost purple. Gov. Nathan Deal is term-limited, so Lieutenant Gov. Casey Cagle and several others are currently running in a fairly competitive Republican primary. Two former House members are vying on the Democratic side.
The primary is May 22, with a runoff pending before the Nov. 6 main election.
“Those that used to lean more extremely conservative… it depends on the question, but I believe the numbers are there that realize we’re already gambling in Georgia,” Stephens said.
He noted that in the next couple of decades another 4.5 million people will be moving to Georgia.
“That’s the size of South Carolina… the only way to prop this thing up is through additional revenue,” Stephens said.
Stephens said the talks originally started with a 12 percent tax rate on casinos, but the final number would be closer to 18 to 24. Panelists, when pushed, predicted the legislature would eventually approve an amendment vote, with a ballot in November 2020, followed by the creation of a gaming commission, with applications beginning to be filed in late 2021.
