South Carolina lawmakers are ready to give sports wagering legislation another chance when the General Assembly starts a new session in January.
Two recent efforts to bring mobile sports betting to the state failed, but with neighboring North Carolina surpassing expectations, South Carolina policymakers could be compelled to advance related bills next year. In 2022, legislation to legalize sports betting in South Carolina made it out of the House but failed to gain traction in the Senate.
Last year, two sports betting bills, including one aimed at bolstering the state’s horse racing industry, were proposed and both gained momentum in the House, but both died without even being brought up for votes in the Senate. At that time, Rep. Chris Murphy (R-Dorchester County) said the state was missing out on significant revenue because many residents bet through illegal offshore sites.
Studies have shown that there is about $2.5 billion annually that’s being wagered online in South Carolina illegally,” he said at a March 2023 committee hearing. “The hope of this legislation would be to eradicate that illegal wagering.”
Even if legislators can get a sports betting through the Senate, odds of it becoming law are long because Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) opposes wagering expansion — something that a was a core component of his 2022 campaign platform.
In South Carolina, North Carolina State of Mind
While McMaster is unlikely to sign off on sports betting legislation, South Carolina politicians appear likely to try again, drawing inspiration from neighboring North Carolina.
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison because North Carolina is about double the size of its southern neighbor, but mobile sports betting has been a boon for the Tar Heel State. It debuted there in March and as of the end of July, total handle stood at north of $2.55 billion, meaning nearly $49 million in new tax revenue for the state.
Making North Carolina’s fast start in mobile sports betting all the more impressive is that the state has yet to enjoy the benefits of a football season — relevant because that’s the most wagered on sport in the US.
South Carolina is one of the more restrictive gaming states in the country. It’s one of just a handful with no land-based commercial or tribal casinos, though it has a lottery and a small number of pari-mutuel facilities.
South Carolina Alluring to Sports Betting Firms
Home to an estimated 5.37 million people at the end of last year, South Carolina is a potentially attractive sports wagering market for gaming companies. On the basis of population, the state is larger than several others that offer mobile betting, including Louisiana, Kentucky, Connecticut, Iowa, and Kansas, among others.
Likewise, the state is rapidly growing and many of its new residents hail from regions where sports betting is ingrained at a cultural level, including the Northeast.
And while South Carolina isn’t home to any professional teams from the major North American sports leagues, it is home to devoted fan bases tied to Clemson University and the University of South Carolina. The state also hosts NASCAR and PGA Tour events annually.
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