HB 1329, the bill to establish a regulatory framework for daily fantasy sports in the state, failed to advance out of the Georgia House Rules Committee. Since the bill did not advance and this is the last day for bills to cross over, that means this particular vehicle for regulating fantasy sports will not be moving forward.
That does not mean that the efforts to regulate DFS during this legislative session are done though. Since the sports betting bill SB386 did cross over from the Senate into the House, there is room to potentially amend that bill to include the fantasy sports language.
Of course, the sports betting bill comes with its own set of challenges, including the constitutional amendment that passed through the Senate yesterday. In addition to potentially taking the issue to the voter, the threshold for approval is three-fifths as opposed to a simple majority.
The DFS bill moved out of the House Committee on Economic Development and Tourism with relative ease earlier this week before stalling in the Rules Committee.
There is precedent for the measure to end up in another bill that is tangentially related to the subject matter. Last year, Georgia lawmakers raised eyebrows by co-opting a measure to designate an official state soap box derby to try to revive sports betting efforts in the House. That effort ultimately failed to gain any traction.
