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South Carolina Legislators Act To Legalize Social Gambling Law

Posted on April 15th, 2010

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The state of South Carolina has laws that were written way back in 1802 that prohibit “any game with cards or dice.” The executive director of Poker Players Alliance, John Papas said South Carolina is one of the three states in the country along with Utah and Hawaii that have the strictest gambling laws. “The gambling laws of this state are just silly.

It’s silly and particularly now when we have the statewide lottery going on how can you say that one form of gambling is wrong and another one is right,” said attorney Ken Anthony. He said a resident in the state doesn’t need to gamble to violate the law because merely playing a game with dice is already illegal. Moreover, if one is caught on the Sabbath, he has to pay $50 more, Anthony said.

Legislators who say the ancient laws should now be revised have voted 4-1 to pass a bill in the House subcommittee that would legalize social gambling such as charity raffles and poker or any game using dice or cards in homes. The bill then moves on to the House Ways and Means Committee for deliberation.

South Carolina residents would also be asked to vote on a constitutional amendment proposed by lawmakers allowing churches, schools and charities to hold limited raffles.

The bill’s critics fear that the new law would provide an opening for the reentry of video poker which took the Legislature 10 years to finally ban it in 2000. To ease their anxiety, legislators designed the bill to specifically ban the use of electronic gaming machines and to criminalize gambling where the result is due mostly to chance, not skill. The law would also limit the number of fundraisers to not more than two events a year, and each event not to exceed six hours, and only non-profit groups can organize casino game nights or fundraising raffles.

Papas, who says about 10,000 of the 1.2 million members of his Poker Players Alliance reside in South Carolina said the legislation is a good way to legalize in-house poker and other popular games. One resident said, “Do we want Vegas here in Greenville? No. But home games where friends are playing and things of that nature I don’t see any harm in that.” Similar laws have been introduced in the past years, but have been rejected and are now shelved in the chambers due to some lawmakers’ misgivings about changing the state’s gambling laws.

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