Georgia Casino and Card Room Gaming

Georgia allows casino cruises. Cruises must be in international waters (three miles from shore) to legally offer casino gaming.

In summer 2001, a toughened version of a bill policing video poker was passed. The bill strengthened laws against cash payouts from machines and gave local governments the ability to pull liquor and business licenses from violators. Shortly after the June 2002 deadline to remove banned machines, police seized machines from five county convenience stores.

In January 2009, the Georgia Lottery Board met to discuss a proposal for Underground Atlanta, a historic downtown entertainment and shopping center. Developer Dan O'Leary wanted to introduce VLTs to the downtown area. The plan included a 29-story hotel on the site of the Underground. The lottery was to own and operate the machines as well as collect the money from the machines. The proposal failed when the amendment to remove the prohibition on casino gaming was defeated in March 2010.

In April 2013, the Georgia Legislature enacted a bill allowing the Georgia Lottery to begin regulating video poker machines located at retail locations throughout the state. Revenue from the poker machines goes toward supporting educational programs in the state. In November 2013, more than 100 convenience store owners sued the state for having to share its profits with vendors supplying the video poker machines.

In February 2017, a bill that would have allowed casino gambling in the state was shot down. Senate Bill 79, put forth by Sen. Brandon Beach, would have allowed for two destination resort casinos, requiring those locations to pay 20% of gambling revenues to the state. The bill did not receive enough votes to make it out of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee. Sen. Beach plans to build support for the bill in 2018.

Casino operations aboard ships in international waters are unregulated, and therefore Casino City does not include revenue from these activities.