"Is Augusta National Preparing for Legalized Sports Gambling in Georgia?"
Through this new tunnel, behind these long-established trees, the Augusta National is building a new television and digital compound with enhanced digital offerings that will include images of every player making every shot of his round, available on the Masters’ digital platform within a few minutes of the actual shot beginning this year. “The reasons we're doing it is because we have always subscribed to the notion that we want to provide content to our fans in the way they want to receive it,” Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley says. Undoubtedly this new feature will attract more engagement in a sport where it is otherwise difficult to see all of the players hit their shots at once. In this spirit, this new state-of-the-art television and digital compound is also potentially the most important facility in the sports gambling world.
Though still illegal in many states, it is no secret that golfers love to gamble, and gamblers around the world love spending money on the Masters Golf Tournament. Many of these bets occur in the form of “proposition” or “prop” bets, bets made regarding the occurrence or non-occurance of an event not affecting the game’s final outcome. During the Masters, sports bookies currently take bets on everything from the overall winner to whom the winner hugs first after sinking his putt on the 19th hole. The new digital compound will arguably supply grist for the mill of prop bets to be made in real time, creating thousands of more wagering opportunities.
The state of Georgia is moving closer and closer to legalizing sports betting, and one can only imagine the impact of all the new data flowing to viewers from the National during the tournament. Right now, camps for and against sports betting are vocalizing their opinions to try to sway public opinion. The supporters believe that any expansion of the gambling industry would result in thousands of extra jobs and would pump extra funds that are already generated illegally to be legally used towards the Georgia Lottery-funded Hope scholarship program.
A recent survey of the public opinion by the Atlanta Journal Constitution shows 64% of voters surveyed expressed their opinion in favor of allowing casino gambling in the state, and 57% of the votes supported legalization of sports betting on professional sports events.
States around the country have approved a variety of rules to accompany the legalization of gambling, setting the stage for what we can imagine happening in Georgia. States such as Delaware, Arkansas, and Mississippi, for instance, only allow bets placed in casinos in person, while some states, such as Rhode Island, Indiana, and Iowa allow you to register online and place your bets on the Internet.
In West Virginia both in-person and online sports wagering are permitted under the law. In New Mexico published reports indicate that bets will not be permitted on games involving the University of New Mexico or New Mexico State University. Iowa permits betting on college sports, but certain kinds of in-game prop bets involving college games are banned. In Indiana wagering on both college and pro sports is permitted, but betting on esports and high school sports is banned. New Hampshire allows both retail and mobile sports betting but no betting on New Hampshire's in-state colleges is allowed.
In 2020, Georgia is debating whether to legalize casinos, horse racing, and sports betting. Given the fact the Augusta National has an enormous amount of pull in the statehouse, would they step in to give the Richmond County citizens a financial gift that would keep on giving in perpetuity?In the advent of new changes on the grounds at the Augusta National and the digital world at-large, it is fun to consider this possibility. Imagine one of our beautiful mills on the canal one day housing the only sports book devoted to the Masters Golf Tournament in the world.
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