HB 1197: Georgia Lottery for Education Act; authorize certain billiards and darts tournaments and prizes

Georgia's Lottery for Education Act regulates coin-operated amusement machines found in bars, arcades, and similar locations. This bill adds a new provision letting location owners or operators that already have licensed amusement machines run billiards or darts tournaments on their premises, with prizes limited to gift cards or other noncash redemption rather than cash. The bill also standardizes discipline across several sections of the law, requiring the Georgia Lottery Corporation to use a progressive penalty scale: a warning for a first offense, a fine for a second, suspension and a fine for a third, and suspension, revocation, or a fine (or combination) for a fourth or later offense. It creates new rules for resolving disputes between master licensees and location owners or operators, including fee-shifting for parties who bring or defend disputes without substantial justification. It also moves appeals from Georgia Lottery Corporation decisions and hearing officer rulings to the Metro Atlanta Business Case Division of the Superior Court of Fulton County. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Authorizes location owners or operators with licensed coin-operated amusement machines to run billiards or darts tournaments and award gift cards or other noncash prizes to winners.
• Requires the Georgia Lottery Corporation to use progressive discipline (warning, then fine, then suspension and fine, then suspension/revocation/fine) for violations across several licensing and penalty sections.
• Requires the corporation to build a system by July 1, 2027 to track and report the amounts of lottery products, gift cards, and replays issued as noncash prizes from amusement machines.
• Moves appeals of corporation decisions, and appeals of hearing officer rulings in master licensee disputes, from internal review or general Fulton County Superior Court to the Metro Atlanta Business Case Division of that court.
• Creates a fee-shifting rule letting a hearing officer or court award attorney fees and revenue forfeiture against a master licensee or location owner/operator that pursues or defends a dispute without substantial justification.
• Requires the chief executive officer to delegate hearing authority to a hearing officer rather than optionally to 'an authorized representative.'

Bar, restaurant, and arcade owners who host coin-operated amusement machines; billiards and darts tournament players; master licensees and equipment distributors regulated by the Georgia Lottery Corporation; and the corporation itself, which must build new reporting systems and apply new disciplinary and appeal rules.

Location owners would gain a new, clearly legal way to host billiards and darts tournaments with prizes, while the standardized progressive discipline and revised appeals process would change how quickly the corporation can suspend or fine violators and where those decisions get challenged in court.

• Section 1 adds a new subsection to O.C.G.A. § 50-27-71 defining billiards and darts and authorizing tournaments with noncash prizes such as gift cards, and lets the corporation write implementing rules.
• Section 2 requires the corporation to work with the Bona Fide Coin Operated Amusement Machine Operator Advisory Board by July 1, 2027 to build a tracking and reporting system for noncash redemptions.
• Sections 3, 6, and 7 add matching progressive discipline language (warning, fine, suspension and fine, suspension/revocation/fine) to license revocation, criminal violation, and location owner penalty provisions.
• Section 4 moves appeals of corporation actions from Fulton County Superior Court generally to that court's Metro Atlanta Business Case Division.
• Section 5 requires (rather than permits) the chief executive officer to delegate hearing authority to a hearing officer.
• Section 8 adds detailed dispute-resolution rules for master licensee versus location owner/operator disputes, including fee-shifting for claims or defenses brought without substantial justification, and moves those appeals to the Metro Atlanta Business Case Division as well.
• Section 9 makes the Act effective upon the Governor's signature.

1. 2026-02-24House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
2. 2026-02-09House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-06House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-05House Hopper (House)

• Alan Powell (R, HD-033)Primary sponsor
• Rick Jasperse (R, HD-011)
• David Wilkerson (D, HD-038)
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Kasey Carpenter (R, HD-004)
• Derrick McCollum (R, HD-030)

• Georgia Lottery Corporation
• coin-operated amusement machines
• billiards and darts tournaments
• gambling regulation
• court appeals process