It is always difficult to talk about sports betting in South Carolina or any other type of gambling since lawmakers have been opposed for decades to these activities. However, this time the situation has changed.
House Bill 3514, introduced by state Rep. Russell Ott, is a measure to allow online wagering on horse racing in The Palmetto State. It was expected to die a quick legislative death but has defied the odds and gained approval in the House. A vote in the Senate is next.
No Gambling State
Whoever heard of horse tracks with no betting? Welcome to South Carolina, home of the holy rollers who insist any form of gambling is a vice too far. But any perceived moral high ground was lost back in 2002 when buckets of money raining from the heavens in other states’ lotteries proved too tempting for the South Carolina legislature to ignore.
And over those 21 years, the South Carolina Lottery has brought in an average of $300 million per year, whose funds have been used to support educational and scholarship programs within the state like LIFE, HOPE, and Palmetto Fellows.
It would be fair to ask those legislators who refuse to consider a gambling expansion how they would cast their vote today if a proposal to eliminate the state lottery was introduced. Yea or nay? There is no such thing as a little bit pregnant so if horse racing, or sports betting, is so morally offensive then what makes the state lottery any more palatable?
The hypocrisy is comical but it comes at a price. South Carolina sits idly by while its residents flee across state lines to make a bet and fill the tax coffers of its neighbors, or stay at home and bet with an offshore sportsbook, virtually all of which have a racebook.
And while other states happily hop aboard the online betting gravy train, South Carolina eagerly collects its lottery winnings while wagging a sanctimonious finger at other forms of gambling. It’s been that way for a long time but there are signs that a change in this archaic thinking is already underway.
HB 3514
State Rep. Russell Ott (D-Calhoun) is desperately trying to take South Carolina out of the dark ages and into the new online money-making millennium. His bill, HB 3514, would legalize parimutuel wagering and would levy a 10% tax on the net profits which would go to the state’s equine industry.
The House Judiciary Committee gave its full support to the measure last month and the floor of the House voted 55-46 to advance the bill to the Senate where its passage is considered a long shot. “I can remember as a child, stable after stable was full. Folks were working in the industry,” Ott said. “It was really good for the local economy. Unfortunately, we’ve lost ground.”
Bill Gutfarb, president of the Aiken Training Track, in Aiken, South Carolina said, “People have big gentleman’s bets between each other here. The wagering thing is like putting us behind the eight ball when it comes to other states that make revenue off of their racing industry.”
Rep. John McCravy III wants to support the equine industry but opposes the measure that would be the first expansion of gambling in the state since the South Carolina Lottery was born in 2002. McCravy sniffed, “I don’t think we need to use that as an excuse to put pari-mutuel betting in South Carolina.”
*Bookmakers Review will continue to monitor this story and update our readers as events unfold.
Calculators
