ATLANTA -- Gov. Brian Kemp cut the ribbon for a fantasy sports company on Thursday, which is expanding its Atlanta headquarters.
It happened in a state where sports gambling is technically still illegal - despite the best efforts of some of its backers at the Capitol.
To the governor - who likes to celebrate newly created jobs - this expansion was an economic development victory.
The ribbon-cutting was for a company called Prize Picks, which lets folks wager electronically on the performances of individual players in team sports.
Although sports betting is technically illegal in Georgia, Prize Picks says its platform legally bypasses those games-of-chance prohibitions by classifying theirs as skill-based games.
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Backers of sports gambling have spent years trying to coax the legislature to legalize sports gambling in Georgia. Backers say the state could tax the proceeds and use them to expand college scholarships and other popular programs.
Though Kemp was the guest of honor at the Prize Picks ribbon cutting, Kemp has neither pushed nor blocked efforts to legalize sports gambling.
"My whole thing is that if we're going to do something like that, that it does not cannibalize the lottery and the HOPE scholarship," Kemp said Thursday.
Religious conservatives have led the effort to stop legalized sports gambling in Georgia. They've also helped Kemp win two terms as governor.
Backers of sports gambling have introduced legalization bills over the last 10 years or more, and are expected to do so again when the legislature reconvenes in January.