What's the Matter with Georgia?

Despite the creeping approach of legalized gambling along Georgia's borders with North Carolina, Alabama and Florida, our state continues to steadfastly oppose legalized gambling initiatives. The closest we have come to anything approximating a casino in Georgia is the proposed revamping of Underground Atlanta into an awful place filled with "video lottery terminals" that vaguely resemble slot machines, but even that half ass idea has failed to make any progress (thankfully, because it would have been a disaster).

Meanwhile, the state so controlled by religious conservatives that it was the subject of a nonfiction bestseller about everything that's wrong with it is preparing to open state-owned casinos to bring in new revenues. Kansas, the home of Operation Rescue, the state that voted evolution out of the educational curriculum, the state that only legalized drinking in the last 50 years, is getting into the casino business.

Admittedly, Kansas conservatives' opposition likely softened a great deal due to the arrival in the 90's of casinos owned by federally-recognized Indian tribes. It was probably tough for state politicians and residents to watch those tribes rake in bajillions of dollars over the last 15 years without virtually any of it going to the state, so it is only natural that they eventually came to crave their share for state coffers. In contrast, Georgia has no federally-recognized Indian tribes who could legally open a casino here, and thus the only way that any casino is coming to this state is through either a statewide ballot initiative (virtually impossible) or legislation redefining the lottery's authority to regulate gambling. This is ultimately the approach that Kansas utilized to legalize state-owned casinos through a narrow vote of the legislature in 2007.

Realistically, given the annual defeat of local control of alcohol sales on Sundays, it's probably unlikely that Georgia will seriously consider allowing REAL gambling anytime soon. But if Kansas' powerful and vocal religious conservatives couldn't prevent the passage of laws expanding revenues by opening state-owned casinos, why should we preemptively assume that Georgia's conservative base can kill this idea before it even gets serious consideration by the legislature, particularly in a year of state budget deficits, hiring freezes, furloughs, falling revenues, and no real end in sight?

It's something that smart politicians should consider embracing and taking the lead on pushing for serious consideration in the legislature. If it worked in Kansas, it can work anywhere.

(Update: As Richard noted in the comments, the Georgia constitution contains a prohibition on casino gambling that Kansas does not have. This probably raises a bigger legal/constitutional hurdle to expanding lottery powers to include running casinos than what Kansas faced.)