COLUMBIA In South Carolina, legalized sports betting is a long shot at best, even though the federal courts checked the issue to the states in May, opening the door for sports betting nationwide.

But other states with Southeastern Conference universities like Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Florida and even Tennessee are embracing or warming up to the concept.

Mississippi has already legalized sports betting in its casinos in Tunica and Biloxi (so you could bet on the Gamecocks or Tigers there this year). And voters in Arkansas on Election Day approved sports betting at four casinos in the state. Missouri and Kentucky are also considering legalization, which in turn has caused Tennessee, with the potential of four sports betting states on its border, to consider legislation to legalize it in the Volunteer State.

“One of the real drivers is to move people who are already placing bets from the black market to place a bet with a legal operator,” said David Forman, senior director of research for the Washington, D.C.-based American Gaming Association, noting that, like the lottery, states want to capture revenue that would otherwise flow to their neighbors.

Although there are plenty of bets laid down in South Carolina — from mano a mano wagers at the Carolina Cup, to illegal bookies, to NCAA office pools — the Palmetto State and legalized gambling have never been simpatico.

“Not only from a moral aspect, but from the recognition that there are other things that come with it,” said Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, the S.C. Senate majority leader. “Addiction. The negative effects on families. And there is the criminal element.”

History of problems
Those same concerns are being expressed in North Carolina and Georgia, where sports gambling also seems like a long shot, for now. So that lessens the aspect of a revenue bleed from the Palmetto State.

And here, the aversion to gambling started early.

Gambling laws that dated back to the 1700s made even friendly card games at home and church raffles illegal. Those laws were finally repealed in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

Then, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the state had three huge bouts with organized gambling.

In 1986, the late state Sen. Jack Lindsay, D-Marlboro, quietly slipped an amendment onto a law that allowed gaming machines to pay out. That resulted in legalized video poker.

Video poker machines popped up in seemingly every bar and restaurant, and scores of video poker “casinos” dotted the state, particularly on the borders.

They were ruled illegal by the state Supreme Court in 1999.

Then In 1989, the FBI ran a vote-buying sting in the General Assembly called Operation Lost Trust.

An agent posing as a lobbyist for a horse-gambling bill handed out crisp $100 bills to lawmakers and brought down a tenth of the Legislature, along with 10 lobbyists and government officials. It was all caught on videotape.

‘Cruises to nowhere’
And in 1998, the education lottery was the central and divisive issue in the election of former Gov. Jim Hodges, a pro-lottery Democrat and the last Democrat to hold the office in the Palmetto State.

Today, legalized gambling in South Carolina is relegated to two casino boats in Little Rivernear Myrtle Beach that conduct “cruises to nowhere.” They sail into international waters each morning and evening on gambling cruises.

These rounds with organized gambling have helped make efforts to land any form of legalized gambling more difficult, lawmakers said.

Republican Sen. Tom Davis, a libertarian-leaning stalwart from Beaufort County who said he favors a debate on the issue, said the issue isn’t even in play at this point.

“The reality is our legislature is nowhere close to passing a legalization bill,” he said, “in large part because of legitimate concerns about the societal costs arising from an uptick in the number of problem and pathological gamblers.”

But there are some efforts to bring the issue before the General Assembly. 

Both state Rep Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, and state Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington, have said they would introduce bills in the next legislative session that would legalize sports betting here.

They have said that the revenues from sports betting could be used for myriad needs in the Palmetto State, from infrastructure to schools.

‘A big lift’
But even the American Gaming Association has said that South Carolina would have to throw the doors wide open to see significant tax benefits from sports betting.

The association commissioned a state-by-state study by the research firm Oxford Economics that showed tax benefits of sports betting at casinos only — called limited availability, or casinos only — would be zero. South Carolina has no casinos.

The study estimates the direct tax benefits of moderate availability — dedicated betting venues, perhaps co-located with age-controlled lottery venues — would be $14.4 million.

And convenient availability — including online gambling and in-play app gambling — would be $27.5 million. (In-play is real-time betting on your phone on individual plays or other wagers, like Carolina making an upcoming field goal.)

If indirect impact is figured in — jobs created, etc. — those totals jump to $21.2 million and $38.4 million, respectively.

But any bill legalizing sports betting may not even be debated in the General Assembly. Massey said he doubted any potential legislation would even rise to a committee hearing.

“We haven’t had any conversations about it yet,” he said. “It hasn’t been in front of the public.”

And even if the idea was embraced by a dubious General Assembly, the S.C. Constitution, which outlaws gambling in many forms, would have to be changed. That would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate, and a majority of votes in a public referendum.

“That’s a tall order, “ Massey said. “That’s a big lift.”

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