On Monday, February 29 in Georgia, House Speaker David Ralston postponed a vote on gaming expansion in the state, which has essentially killed any chance of expansion efforts going any further this calendar year.
As an article by the Atlanta Journal Constitution explains, there is still a slim chance the legislative push is not dead for this calendar year, but it appears to be a relative longshot.
The AJC article has quoted Ralston as having said that it was his determination that the issue was not ready to be voted on. The piece goes on to explain that Ralston had instructed members to go back and discuss the issue with their constituents last Friday before the members voted. He then postponed the vote on Monday.
The article quoted Ralston as saying, “I didn’t get a great appetite of what they had heard for a vote and I made the judgment based on what I was hearing from members.”
In January, a Senate committee passed legislation that called for a constitutional amendment to allow the expansion of gaming and for the creation of a new division in the state gaming corporation to govern horse racing.
Also in January, the Georgia Horse Racing Coalition unveiled its vision for a new racetrack that would include adjacent areas for residential and commercial undertakings.
(With files from the Atlanta Journal Constitution)