It looks like sports betting won’t be legalized in Georgia any time soon.
Sports betting stocks, including DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) and Flutter Entertainment (NYSE:FLUT), were dropping on Monday on a brutal day for the markets.
The Dow Jones was down more than 1,000 points, or 2.4%, while the Nasdaq dropped a whopping 4.6%, or 844 points as of 3:00 p.m. ET. The S&P 500 was off 185 points of 3.2% and the Russell 2000 was down 62 points or 3%. The Nasdaq was on pace for the worst day since the 2022 bear market.
The betting stocks were caught up in the overall selloff. However, they also got some bad news from the state of Georgia as well.
DraftKings was off about 8% to $36 per share while Flutter, the parent of FanDuel, fell almost 12% to $219 per share as of 3:00 p.m. ET. Penn Entertainment (NASDAQ:PENN), which runs ESPN Bet, was also down 10%.
No sports betting in Georgia – for now
According to reports from the Associated Press and other outlets, a bill and constitutional amendment to legalize sports betting in Georgia looks dead, for this year anyway.
Last Thursday, according to the AP, was the last day for the bill and amendment to be voted on but it didn’t make it to the House floor.
“It came in late and I guess people just weren’t there yet,” said House Higher Education Committee Chairman Chuck Martin, according to the AP. The bill and constitutional amendment were just introduced about a week ago.
The bill called for 16 online sports betting licenses.
It is a significant blow for sports betting stocks, as Georgia is the eighth most populous state. While dead for now, the bill could come back in the fiscal 2026 legislative session.
“I believe strongly — and Georgians by wide margins agree with me — that this change will not only bring in much needed revenue to educate our youngest learners but also provide consumer protections that don’t exist in today’s black market,” State Rep. Marcus Wiedower, the bill’s sponsor, said reported the AP.
For now, Missouri is the only state that will legalize online sports betting in 2025, going live sometime this summer.
But Hawaii has moved closer to legalizing sports betting. Last week, the Hawaii House approved a measure to approve online sports betting in the state. Now it moves to the Hawaii Senate for consideration, with action expected by May 2.
