Georgia COAM Q3 2026: Four Deadlines in 90 Days That Could Cost You Your License
The industry has spent two years building toward July 1, 2026. Now that it’s here, the instinct is to exhale — the hard part is over. Get your gift card system live, train your staff, stop handing out cash. Check the box.
That instinct is dangerous. July 1 is not the finish line for Georgia COAM compliance. It is the starting gun for a new operating environment that comes with its own quarterly reporting obligations, a closing license renewal window, and a first-of-its-kind gift card audit trail that fundamentally changes how the GLC reviews your operations. There are four distinct compliance obligations in the next 111 days. Here is what each one means and exactly what you need to do.
Deadline 1: July 1, 2026 — The Law Is Now Live
As of today, the HB 353 payout mandate is in effect. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-27-71.1 as amended, the only lawful forms of prize redemption for Class B COAMs are replays, lottery products (Georgia Lottery tickets), and nonreloadable and reloadable gift cards. No other form of redemption is permitted. Cash payouts for Class B machines are now illegal.
For Class A COAMs, the new rules also authorize nonreloadable and reloadable gift cards as lawful redemption options — in addition to any other form of redemption previously allowed by law or GLC rule. If your Class A location was already using compliant payout methods, gift cards are now added to your options.
The other significant change effective today: reloadable gift cards are now legal for both Class A and Class B machines for the first time. Previously, only nonreloadable gift cards were available through the GLC’s pilot program. As of July 1, a player can receive a card that retains value across multiple visits — provided the card is loaded only with value won through successful play, loaded only at the location where the machines are played, and loaded only by the location licensee, an employee of the licensee, or a self-service gift card redemption kiosk. These restrictions are not suggestions. The GLC has documented prize reduction — shortchanging the player on the won amount — as one of the most common violations its inspectors encounter.
There is no grace period. The GLC’s published enforcement procedure is clear: if a COAM Inspector arrives at a location and finds no lawful prize redemption option available on or after July 1, 2026, the location receives a written warning. If the issue is uncorrected at the follow-up inspection, the location receives a citation. Citations escalate to license suspension or revocation for persistent or severe violations.
If you need a complete breakdown of what inspectors are checking after July 1, see our GLC Compliance Inspection Guide. For the specific mechanics of how reloadable cards work and what the loading rules require, see our post on reloadable gift cards effective July 1.
Deadline 2: July 20, 2026 — Q2 Gross Retail Receipts
Nineteen days from today, the first post-mandate reporting deadline arrives. Under the quarterly reporting requirements established by HB 353, Georgia COAM operators must submit Gross Retail Receipts for the prior calendar quarter on the 20th of January, April, July, and October each year. The July 20 deadline covers Q2 — April 1 through June 30, 2026.
This filing is electronic only, submitted at gacoam.com. The GLC stopped accepting paper, fax, and email submissions earlier in 2026. If your EFT Authorization Form is not on file in the gacoam.com portal, that needs to be resolved before you attempt to file. Late filings carry penalties; a failed filing because of a missing EFT authorization is not a valid excuse.
The Q2 reporting window is particularly significant for one reason: it covers the last quarter before the gift card mandate took effect. April through June 2026 is the period when most locations were still operating under the old cash payout model — and the data you report for that quarter is the last set of figures that lacks an independent gift card audit trail to cross-check it against.
Starting July 1, every payout at your location generates a timestamped, machine-attributed transaction record through your gift card system. That record exists at the provider level and is reportable to the GLC. For the first time, the GLC can compare your declared Gross Retail Receipts against documented payout activity. If your Q2 figures show dramatically lower COAM receipts than your July gift card payout records suggest, that discrepancy is a flag.
This does not mean Q2 reporting is a trap. It means accuracy matters more than ever. Review your April–June figures before you file. Confirm that your non-COAM business receipts are correctly included. Confirm that your gross COAM receipts reflect what the machines actually collected. The goal is an accurate record, not a minimized one.
Q2 Filing Quick Reference
Do not wait until July 20 to file. The portal experiences heavy traffic near quarterly deadlines. A technical issue on the filing deadline does not extend your deadline. Log in to gacoam.com this week, verify your EFT Authorization is current, and file as early as your Q2 data is ready.
Deadline 3: September 28, 2026 — The Late Renewal Window Closes for Good
This is the deadline operators most frequently underestimate — and the one with the highest stakes.
The 2027 COAM licensing year runs July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. The standard renewal window opened May 4, 2026 at gacoam.com and closed June 30, 2026. Operators who did not renew by June 30 entered the late renewal period on July 1. That late period closes permanently on September 28, 2026.
Operating in the late renewal window costs money. The non-refundable late fee schedule, per the GLC, is:
These fees are assessed per license, not per operation. A master licensee managing five Class B locations who missed the June 30 window now owes $5,000 in non-refundable late fees — before a single gift card transaction is even counted. A master licensee with ten Class B locations owes $10,000.
What happens after September 28 is worse than the late fee. After the late renewal window closes, there is no further path to renewal for the 2027 licensing period. An operator who has not renewed by September 28 cannot legally operate COAMs for any remaining portion of the 2027 year. That means no machines, no revenue, and no path back in until the 2028 renewal cycle opens — roughly May 2027.
If your renewal is pending — even if you are still absorbing the late fee — get it completed in July or August. The September 28 deadline is 89 days away. That sounds distant. In a busy operation managing gift card system rollout, Q2 reporting, and staff training simultaneously, 89 days can disappear faster than you expect.
Check your license status today at gacoam.com. If your renewal for the 2027 period is not confirmed, initiate it immediately.
September 28 Is Absolute
The GLC has not signaled any flexibility on the September 28 late renewal cutoff. Unlike the July 1 enforcement posture — which begins with a written warning before escalating to a citation — a missed September 28 deadline has no warning stage. After that date, you lose operating authority for the 2027 period without recourse. The fee to renew late is painful; the cost of missing the window entirely is your entire COAM revenue stream through June 2027.
- $1,000 per Class B Location, Class B Master, Distributor, and Manufacturer license
- $100 per Class A Location and Class A Master license
Deadline 4: October 20, 2026 — Q3 Gross Retail Receipts
The fourth deadline — 111 days from today — is the October 20, 2026 submission of Q3 Gross Retail Receipts, covering July 1 through September 30, 2026. This filing has an importance that goes beyond the standard quarterly obligation: it is the first receipt report that covers a full quarter entirely under gift card payouts.
That changes what the GLC sees when it reviews your filing. In prior quarters, the GLC received your self-reported receipts and cross-checked them against what inspectors observed in the field. Starting with Q3 2026, the GLC also has your gift card transaction records — a complete, machine-level log of every payout loaded at your location from July 1 onward. Those records are the most reliable documentation of COAM payout activity in the history of the program.
For compliant operators running clean gift card systems, this is a benefit. Your transaction log corroborates your reported receipts. An accurate Q3 filing that aligns with clean gift card records is the strongest possible compliance posture.
For operators who run high COAM volume and have historically been close to the 50% gross receipts threshold — the rule that limits COAM receipts to no more than 50% of a location’s total business receipts under O.C.G.A. § 50-27-84(b)(1) — Q3 is the quarter where the new audit trail matters most. The GLC can now compare your documented gift card payouts against your declared COAM receipts and your non-COAM business sales with more precision than it ever could in the cash era. Accuracy and consistency across your records are essential.
Begin tracking your Q3 data cleanly from day one. Make sure your gift card provider’s reporting is configured correctly and that you have access to transaction-level export data. When October arrives, you want your Q3 numbers ready and your gift card records to tell the same story as your filing.
Running Q3 2026 Operationally: What Compliant Looks Like Day to Day
Between the four deadlines above, Q3 2026 requires consistent operational discipline. Here is what that looks like on the ground.
Gift Card Loading Discipline
Every payout must follow the same process: verify the win on the machine, load the exact won amount onto the card at the location, provide the card and a receipt. No exceptions for regular players, for small amounts, or for equipment downtime. The gift card system is not a fallback — it is the payout method. If the system is offline, the machine goes out of service, not the player gets cash.
Staff turnover is a real risk in Q3. Anyone who joined your location after July 1 learned the gift card process from a coworker, not from a formal training session. Refresh your team’s training during July while the July 1 changes are still fresh. See our staff training guide for a structured approach.
Inspection Readiness
The GLC has 14 Compliance Inspectors active statewide. They do not announce visits. In the weeks immediately following July 1 — when the new payout mandate takes effect — inspection activity will be elevated. Your location should be inspection-ready from the moment the gift card system went live, not two weeks later. The two most common violations the GLC documents are cash payouts and inducements. Eliminating cash payouts is now mandatory. Avoid inducements — offering anything of value to influence how players redeem their winnings — just as carefully.
Record Access
Make sure you can access your transaction records on demand. If a GLC inspector asks to review your gift card payout log, you should be able to produce it immediately — not call your provider and wait three days. Confirm with your gift card vendor that you have direct access to export transaction-level data. This matters both for inspections and for your October 20 filing.
Need a Compliant Gift Card System for Q3 and Beyond?
Payline provides Visa and Mastercard gift card payouts for Georgia COAM operators — with the transaction records, reporting support, and compliance guidance you need to navigate every deadline in Q3 2026 and beyond. Zero setup costs for qualified locations.
The 90-Day Checklist
To navigate Q3 2026 without a compliance failure, here is what needs to happen:
By July 7 (First Week)
- Gift card system live and staff trained on loading procedures
- Cash payout process fully eliminated — no exceptions
- Transaction record access confirmed with your provider
- License renewal status verified at gacoam.com
By July 20 (Q2 Reporting)
- Q2 Gross Retail Receipts (April–June 2026) reviewed for accuracy
- Non-COAM business receipts correctly included in the filing
- EFT Authorization confirmed current in gacoam.com portal
- Q2 filing submitted electronically at gacoam.com before the deadline
By September 28 (License Renewal)
- 2027 COAM license renewal completed — for every license you hold
- Late fees paid if renewal was not completed by June 30
- Renewal confirmation on file before the window closes permanently
By October 20 (Q3 Reporting)
- Q3 Gross Retail Receipts (July–September 2026) compiled from your records
- Gift card transaction data cross-checked against reported COAM receipts
- Q3 filing submitted electronically at gacoam.com before the deadline
The Bigger Picture
HB 353 changed the payout method on July 1. But what it actually changed is the information environment around Georgia COAM operations. Gift cards create records. Quarterly reporting creates financial accountability. The GLC has more visibility into what happens inside COAM locations today than at any point in the program’s history.
That visibility is not a threat to compliant operators — it is a protection. Clean transaction records corroborate your quarterly filings. An accurate operational posture holds up under inspection. Operators who run their gift card systems correctly through Q3 will head into Q4 with a compliance record that reflects exactly what the GLC is looking for: accurate payout data, consistent operations, and quarterly reports that match what the machines actually generated.
The operators who struggle in Q3 are the ones who treated July 1 as the finish line. It was not. It was the beginning of a compliance operating model that runs every quarter from here on. Get the four Q3 deadlines on your calendar today, start building the operational habits that make compliance automatic, and use Q3 to establish the clean record that protects your license going forward.
For a complete breakdown of the enforcement mechanics now in effect, see our post on the first 30 days of enforcement after July 1. For how the GLC’s inspection process works, see the GLC Compliance Inspection Guide.
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