When in Rome….
For years, there have been attempts to expand gambling in the state of Georgia, but nothing has ever come to fruition. Sports betting, casinos, online poker, nothing – and most attempts at legalization haven’t gotten particularly far. Georgia has the lottery, but that’s about it.
And now there is another push for casino gambling in the state, but this time, it is from a different angle. It’s not a lawmaker introducing a bill, but rather semi-retired businessman Charles Craton pitching the dream of a riverboat casino in the northwest Georgia city of Rome.
The three-story classic riverboat would be permanently docked where the Oostanaula, Etowah, and Coosa Rivers meet in Rome. The project’s website says that taking the “Queen of the Coosa” out for cruises on the Coosa River when “river conditions allow” would also be a possibility.
“We have three rivers converging in our city, and yet we’ve done so little to activate them,” Craton told the Coosa Valley News. “The Queen of the Coosa would celebrate our heritage, create jobs, generate tax revenue, and offer something truly unique to Georgia and the Southeast.”
Craton’s first goal is to garner enough community support to get the attention of local and state decision makers. He says the project would be entirely privately funded, yet would contribute tax dollars to support public improvements. The Queen of the Coosa’s website is surprisingly honest about the pros and cons of a Rome casino and is up-front with the hurdles that would have to be cleared for the project to move forward.
Casinos aren’t even legal in Georgia
The biggest of those hurdles is for casino gambling to be made legal in the state of Georgia and that’s no small feat. Because that would require a constitutional amendment, the first step in that process is for a bill to pass with a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the state legislature, not an easy thing to accomplish. It wouldn’t be done there, though. After that, the measure would be put to Georgia voters, who would have to approve it by a simple majority.
And that’s just to legalize casino gambling in the state. The Rome City Commission, Floyd County Commission, and Georgia General Assembly would all have to specifically approve the Queen of the Coosa plan.
The City of Rome would not be anywhere near the top of decision makers’ preferred locations for a hypothetical casino – Atlanta and nearby areas would be first – so Craton is urging people to give his project support to put it front of mind.