Renewed push for casino gambling in Atlanta loses steam – MDJOnline.com

With a senate bill looking to legalize casino gambling dead at the Georgia general assembly, developers and state residents on both sides of the issue will have to wait another year for movement on the issue.

The legislation, SB 79, introduced by Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, aimed to bring two destination resorts to the state. Beach said the bill did not have enough support in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee to make it to the Senate floor for a vote.

In its latest form, the bill called for one resort-style casino to be constructed in metro Atlanta, either in DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton, Cobb or Gwinnett. The other casino could have been located outside Atlanta.

In order to build any casinos in the state, Georgia residents would have had to vote on a referendum amending the state constitution to decide whether to allow casino gambling at all.

Now, all of that is on standby for at least the remainder of 2017.

Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, said the votes were definitely not there in the Senate to be able to go to the public with the legislation. He said only time will tell what happens with the future of the divisive issue.

Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur, said a lack of comfort and confidence in casino gambling being good for the county and state is a large factor in the issue.

Everywhere I go, from rotary clubs to PTA meetings, I have asked if people are for or against this, and I have not found one group that supports it yet, Oliver said.

According to Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-District 14, concert venues, hotels and restaurants across the region have expressed concern about the casinos ability to draw people in with cheap rooms, food and entertainment.

There is concern too of other factors that surround large casinos. In a Central Atlanta Progress report, potential social impacts of an Atlanta casino were listed including reduced productivity, higher crime rates, bad debts, bankruptcy, therapy and welfare costs.

Beach has argued that gambling is already legal in Georgia through the lottery and that additional revenue brought in through casinos could benefit the state.

The failed bill would have levied a 20 percent tax on the two casinos, which would be used for state education and health care.

The lack of support has not stopped developers from continuing to try and convince local residents of the value of a potential casino in metro Atlanta.

Just days before the bill fell flat in the capitol, Bill Hornbuckle, president of MGM Resorts International, spoke at the DeKalb Chamber of Commerces 79th annual meeting about working with the local community to build something they want.

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We are open, transparent and ready to talk, he said. We go where we are wanted.

MGM has proposed a $2 billion resort-style casino in the city that would employ around 4,000 people and become one of the largest taxpayers in the county where it would be located.

Hornbuckle said he understood some of the controversy, especially with concern around a casino competing with local businesses, such as the Fox Theater and Woodruff Arts Center.

We come into the community to understand how we can best serve and make it better for everyone, he said We are not bringing Las Vegas style casinos.

As it is, Hornbuckle said Georgians are already supporting casino gambling, but are going outside the state to do it. He said, according to outside research, Georgia residents are estimated to spend around $600 million annually at out-of-state casinos, such as Harrahs Cherokee Valley River in North Carolina just a three hour drive from Atlanta.

This is ultimately an activity already happening, with revenue going outside the state that could be here, he said.

On Twitter, users in Georgia spoke both for and against casino gambling coming to the state.

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Renewed push for casino gambling in Atlanta loses steam - MDJOnline.com