Is Gambling Legal In South Carolina
The ancient-almost South Carolina gambling laws date all the way back from the start of the 1800s. So, being more than 200 years old, they pertain to some piece of notions that aren’t of real notoriety.
South Carolina, home of the southern bells, beautiful landmarks and the mighty Clemson Tigers. As we’ve covered so far, South Carolina is tough on gambling. This is seen throughout their entire history, which starts with banning all forms of gaming in 1802. The Palmetto State allowed video poker machines throughout the 1990s, but they decided to ban all of these games in 2000. South Carolina Legal Gambling Age - One of the first things we looked for in the world of gambling in the state of South Carolina was that of the South Carolina Legal Gambling Age. To gamble in South Carolina you will have to be at least 18. In some online gambling sites you will have to be 21.
- Lottery (2001)
- About $400 million per year
- About $1.4 billion per year
- 18
- South Carolina does not have a smoking ban
- None
South Carolina casinos, as well as gambling, was once more popular than in Nevada. This occurred in the 1990s when video poker operators discovered a loophole in the South Carolina gambling laws.
Casinos opened up throughout the state. Gas stations, bars, and restaurants all hosted video poker games. These games were outlawed in 2000. A state lottery was created a year later. The only other forms of legal gambling are charity bingo and a casino cruise that docks near Myrtle Beach.
Paying Gambling Taxes in South Carolina
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South Carolina Casinos Map & Guide
- Big M Casino
- 0
- 0
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Types of South Carolina Online Gambling Allowed
There are no forms of legalized online gambling in South Carolina. Daily fantasy sports sites accept players from South Carolina. These companies claim exemption under South Carolina’s skill game laws.
A spokesman for the South Carolina Attorney General’s office stated in November 2015 that there were no complaints by residents pertaining to daily fantasy sports sites. The South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson had no intention of investigating the industry, according to the spokesman.
Types of Live South Carolina Gambling
- Casino Games: Some
- Bingo: Yes
- Lottery: Yes
There are only two forms of live gambling permitted in South Carolina. The state lottery sells tickets to lotto drawings. It also sells scratch-off instant game tickets. There is only one South Carolina casino currently operating within the state, the Big M Casino. This South Carolina casino is able to operate due to the fact that it acts as a cruise casino. People are able to book a short trip on the cruise while they gamble at the casino games tables. This goes back to the gambling laws surrounding boats.
Bingo is permitted is offered by charitable organizations. Entries must be $3, $5 or $18. The prize pool must be announced before the night of the games and cannot be based on the amount of the prize pool. The Catawba Tribe is permitted to spread high stakes bingo games due to this law through its exemption under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Attempts by the tribe to expand into casino operations have failed.
South Carolina Gambling Laws
South Carolina forbids most forms of gambling. Slots, video poker machines, table games and racing are all illegal. The possession of gambling devices is only permitted on cruise ships docked in water or in transport en route to licensed casinos.
The only forms of legalized gambling in South Carolina are a state lottery and bingo. State law permits the operation of a lottery by the government. Proceeds must go towards education. Only traditional tickets to instant games and lottos may be sold. South Carolina’s lottery may enter multi-state drawings and it does. This includes Mega Millions and Powerball. The lottery may not operate keno games for real money or expand into video lottery.
The Bingo Act of 1976 permits charities to offer bingo with a few rules. A game may only have one winner. The prize for each game offered during a session must be equal. Auto-daubers were permitted in 2004 but only to facilitate a traditional bingo game. Video bingo games are explicitly prohibited.
A nonprofit organization must be active for three years in the state to receive a bingo license. It must be a charitable, religious or fraternal organization. Each licensed bingo site must pay $1,000 per year. Manufacturers pay $5,000 per year to place devices related to bingo. Promoters must pay $2,000 per year to operate in South Carolina. The first $948,000 per year in annual revenue generated from bingo licensing must go towards senior citizen services and parks. Any overage may enter the general fund.
List of South Carolina Casinos
The only places to gamble in South Carolina are convenience stores that sell lottery tickets, charities that offer bingo and the Catawba reservation near Rock Hill, which offers high stakes bingo.
The only South Carolina casinos are the Big M Casino and SunCruz Aquacasino, which are cruise casinos, dock in the Little River Inlet just north of Myrtle Beach. Players may enjoy video poker, slots, craps, roulette and table games that use cards on these ships. The cruises may not operate casino games until they have entered international waters.
History of South Carolina Gambling
Racing was the first form South Carolina gambling. Horses and greyhounds raced early last century. The conservative movement during the days after World War II put an end to this type of gambling.
The first form of legalized South Carolina gambling in the modern days was bingo. This occurred in 1976. Only charities may offer bingo although the Catawba Tribe also operates the games through its exemption under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The rules pertaining to buy-ins and prize pools do not apply to reservation bingo games.
Voters approved a state lottery through a constitutional referendum in 2001. The first lottery ticket was sold in January 2002. The only permitted games are lotto drawings and instant scratch-off tickets. These are sold at convenience stores but not over the Internet.
Video Poker Machine Boom and Decline
The most interesting part of South Carolina gambling history started in 1986. A state gambling law was quietly edited and attached to a must-pass budget bill. The language removed the words “or property” from an anti-gambling statute. This was meant to legalize arcade redemption games, although there was some question as to whether the intent was always to find a back door for video poker machines.
Gambling devices began appearing in convenience stores and bars. It was not long before casinos opened throughout the state. At one point there were 7,000 places to gamble, three times more than Nevada at the time. There were about 34,000 video poker machines in these establishments. It was not until 1989 that lawmakers realized what they had done three years prior. By that time, the video poker industry in South Carolina had exploded into a nine-figure industry in terms of annual revenues.
The first step towards controlling video poker was a law passed by the state legislature that limited daily winnings to $125. This law was skirted when video poker operators simply cashed out $125 per day until a larger jackpot was paid in full.
South Carolina video poker establishments were limited to five machines per location. Owners determined that a location was simply an address. The solution was to wall off multiple rooms and call it a separate business. Many casinos, as they were advertised, continued to stuff dozens of games into a building. Walls were constructed to separate them.
South Carolina outlawed the operation of video poker on Sundays. This was a law the operators actually obeyed.
Many of these South Carolina casinos were gaudy and considered eyesores in the community. The state lines with Georgia and North Carolina was littered with them.
South Carolina received no benefit from these machines in terms of taxes. There was no minimum age to play, although most video poker malls required patrons to be at least 19 years of age.
The video poker lobby even managed to defeat a popular governor, Republican David Beasley. Video poker operators backed Democrat Jim Hodges with millions in campaign funds. A historically Republican state saw a Democrat win its gubernatorial race thanks to the video poker’s campaign contributions.
The state had enough of this and in 1999, the state legislature decided to put an end to the industry. The South Carolina Legislature passed a bill, signed by Governor Hodges, which put the matter up for a statewide referendum. Voters would decide in a November 1999 referendum whether video poker should remain legal in South Carolina.
There was just one problem with this law. The South Carolina Constitution does not give its citizens a referendum right unless it is a constitutional amendment. The law stated that if South Carolinians did not affirm the legality of video poker, it would become illegal after June 30, 2000.
Is Gambling Legal In South Carolina
Some observers at the time wondered if this was intentional. The state legislature made it appear that it would allow the citizens to decide whether video poker should be legal in South Carolina. They never got the chance. The South Carolina Supreme Court deemed that its citizens could not vote on the measure because the state constitution did not permit such an action. Because of this ruling, video poker became illegal on July 1, 2000. The machines were moved to other states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and West Virginia, where the games still enjoyed a gray area status at the time.
South Carolina Casinos & Gambling FAQ
What forms of gambling are legal in South Carolina?
The only forms of legalized gambling in South Carolina are bingo and a state lottery.
It is widely believed daily fantasy sports are legal in South Carolina. State Attorney General Alan Wilson has yet to issue an official opinion on the topic.
Horse and greyhound racing are not legal in South Carolina.
No.
The only form of online gambling permitted in South Carolina at this time is daily fantasy sports.
Are online poker, casino games or sports betting legal in South Carolina?
All of these games are illegal in South Carolina. The sites that operate the games are unlicensed in the state.
Does the South Carolina Lottery sell tickets over the Internet?
Lottery tickets are not sold online in South Carolina.
Video poker was outlawed in 2000.
Talking about South Carolina online casinos is nothing shorter than hoping for a miracle to happen. Actually, knowing the strict and almost hostile stand that this state took on this debate comparing to other states, perhaps one should even question if is gambling legal in South Carolina? In fact, a market and some options for gambling in South Carolina do exist, but they are rather limited. Not having even a single casino in South Carolina, gets to show exactly how the law-makers of this state feel about this particular business.
South Carolina Online Casino Sites
| Casino | Bonus | Website | Rating | Features | Deposit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2000 | 257 voted Review |
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| 2 | $12250 | 114 voted Review |
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| 3 | $12000 | 145 voted Review |
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| 4 | $2500 | 471 voted Review |
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| 5 | $1000 | 424 voted Review |
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| 6 | $7777 | 475 voted Review |
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| 7 | $3000 | 369 voted Review |
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| 8 | $800 | 151 voted Review |
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| 9 | $4000 | 276 voted Review |
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| 10 | $5000 | 387 voted Review |
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Contents
South Carolina Gambling Laws
The ancient-almost South Carolina gambling laws date all the way back from the start of the 1800s. So, being more than 200 years old, they pertain to some piece of notions that aren’t of real notoriety. Not that hard to believe that a piece of legislative information that refers to roulette as “rouge or noir” is not that keen on taking on the impact for South Carolina online gambling could have. Read the source about gambling laws in South Carolina.
There are no Indian casinos in South Carolina as we’ve become accustomed to seeing in other states. That is not for lack of trying, though. Native Americans can start this sort of business under federal law protection. However, they still need to sign an agreement with the state their reservation is in. The Catawba tribe asked for such a compact in order to open a new casino in South Carolina, but have been refused.
Trying to substitute the need for a casino in SC, other options became available, such as lottery, bingo halls and the most popular, casino cruises.
South Carolina Gambling Boat
The Crusade against Internet Gambling
The law-makers of this state not only do not agree on the existence of online gambling in South Carolina, but they have taken it on themselves to ban in the whole country the phenomenon, or at least stop its expansion. For some of the loudest voices in the Senate of South Carolina, online casinos are seen as a facilitator of organized crime and even terrorism. Also, the main point of debate was that the geolocation couldn’t be that precise as to clearly tell if a player resides in a state where Internet wagering is allowed or not. And as a result, it was asked that these virtual venues be banned all around the country.
Surely, these ideas were quickly dismissed by any senator who can figure out the basics of how these simple concepts function. Unfortunately, this opinion caught a lot of air under its wings locally. Furthermore, going into an argumentative debate with such a representative, oblivious to the modern age of technology, becomes futile.
Offline and Online Gambling Options in South Carolina
Off-shore Online Casino Websites
South Carolina online gambling being looked at the way it is, with such a low interest to be legalized, it has created a proper market for off-shore based RTG all casinos, virtual wagering websites. This state’s residents are allowed and welcomed to legally play betting games on such sites. Surely there is a South Carolina casinos list, where one can find all the websites that accept US players, residents from SC included, that meet the security demands and are legally licensed, although in other jurisdictions, and that is safe for playing. And our top choice is Bovada. Bovada is legal in South Carolina and is a well-known online casino brand in the United States.
- Top 1 USA online casino
- Fast payouts
Lottery
Is Online Betting Legal In South Carolina
Not having a proper casino, South Carolina embraced all the other forms allowed, the lottery is one of the popular ones. Ironically enough, the greatest winning in lottery’s history happened in October 2018, when a South Carolinian won a 1.6 billion USD prize.
Cruises
The regulators didn’t agree on any Indian casinos South Carolina. Therefore the gaming services operators shifted towards alternatives. Seeing how for setting such a venture on-land there couldn’t be found any goodwill, they reoriented towards the water. More precisely, beyond 3 miles from shore, in international waters. The Charleston casino cruise departs twice a day, while other ships offer similar services of gambling casinos in Myrtle Beach, SC. Aboard these cruises are the only places where legal SC slots can be found.
Bingo
The demand of a South Carolina casino being left unanswered, residents went along with whatever legal options they had at disposal. Thus, bingo halls have become largely popular, seeing how even raffles, poker nights and all other charitable gaming, are forbidden.
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Is gambling legal in South Carolina?
In the general sense, yes it is. But the options it offers are scarce, to say the least, seeing how the only casinos in SC operate in the form of casino cruises and as for online gambling, South Carolina is so unwelcoming, it borders straight-on war.
Are there casinos in Charleston, South Carolina?
Some of the few South Carolina casinos are based on sorts in this town, although they come in the shape of ships departing for daily cruises, up to the international waters, where gambling is not forbidden any longer.
Can I gamble in SC online casinos?
There are no such venues, but you can find a couple of off-shore websites that offer their services and give you access only those on the list of reviewed and verified sites, can gamble stress-free.
What is the age legal gambling age in South Carolina?
For this state, it is legal to bet from 18 years, except when embarking on a cruise ship, in which case, 21 is the lowest limit.
Is Sports Gambling Legal In South Carolina
How can I know if an offshore casino is legit?
For players coming from South Carolina, online casinos offer some of the sweetest deals, hoping to attract them to their website. Indeed, some of these aren’t what they claim to be. However, there is at least one list of casinos in South Carolina that have been carefully reviewed and tested for security discrepancies, every website on that list being recommended for a safe-play.
Any future change in the legislation to allow Internet gaming for money?
Given the general stand in regards to the subject at hand, it is highly unlikely that even a debate on the legalization of SC online casinos is going to take place in the short term future.