With the World Cup in full swing, this provides both good and bad news for Georgia betting. On one hand, legal sports betting is not legal, but the door is open to place futures bets on the tournament through prediction markets, as that has been made legal at a Federal level. However, there's no question that the state is also missing out on a huge opportunity. And with that, it's safe to say that no World Cup betting in Georgia is costing the state millions in revenue.

That's what the Atlanta Business Chronicle was able to piece together in a recent piece. Per their report, it has been determined that Georgia is missing out on rough $200 million in sports betting tax revenue per year However, with plenty of World Cup games taking place in Atlanta in particular, we would have surely seen a rise in the betting numbers in the coming weeks, boosting the the potential revenue as a whole.

Earlier this year, Georgia did its best to move forward with legalizing sports betting, but a new bill was shot down, not getting the needed votes to get things over the line. This was of course a major bummer for sports fans in the area, as everyone has been hoping to find a way to participate on a bigger level. While having prediction markets helps, it doesn't all for certain kinds of bets you'd be able to find on your average sportsbook.

With all of this in mind, not having legal sports betting options in Atlanta right now is a major missed opportunity for Georgia as a whole. We are seeing incredible sports betting numbers across the USA where things are legal, while Georgia is missing out on huge revenue opportunities. It will be interesting to see if things change within the next year or two, but not legal sports betting is something that people all over the state are quite tired of.

People in Georgia are following Spain closely in the 2026 World Cup

In the midst of the sports betting madness, don't forget that people in Georgia are following Spain closely in the 2026 World Cup. This is where a lot of the missed betting opportunities come into play. In the first match day for their group, Spain played at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, with thousands of fans traveling to the area for the game.

On top of that, so many soccer fans in the region have taken a strong interest in the team since the games are being played nearby. In Spain's first game, a shocking result was posted, with the European giants tying with Cabo Verde 0-0. Can you imagine how much money the state would have been able to make on this game alone?

Spain was an overwhelming favorite and a ton of money was placed on them to cruise to a win. All of those people who bet on the moneyline or the over for goals lost out big time. This indeed could have led to an incredible amount of money for the state in tax revenue as part of the World Cup betting, but instead, it was PolyMarket, Kalshi and others who ended up seeing a decent amount of profit here.

What's next for the Georgia sports betting push?

Moving forward, plenty of people are wondering what's next for the Georgia sports betting push? It's a fair question, and it's one we wish we had an answer for. Unfortunately at this time, there remains to be a ton of uncertainty on things, as officials and lawmakers will now need to get back to the drawing board and work to come up with the right plan where everyone can meet in the middle.

At the same time, there are also plenty of people who are not happy with prediction markets being able to operate in the state as well. Just recently, Minnesota put together a ban on those markets, with things sent to fall into place on August 1. However, the Trump administration is firing back there a bit, with lawsuits in place to prevent that from happening.

Could Georgia follow suit with something similar? That remains to be seen, but it obviously can't be ruled out either if local officials decide to go that route. Soon enough, though, the hope is that a proper sports betting bill can be brought to the Senate that can be voted into place. We're all waiting for that to happen, but there isn't much optimism around that push.