Gaming in South Carolina

1. Gaming in South Carolina PRTM 820 Jenny Cavin

2. Overview • Gaming Background • Legal Basis • South Carolina Gaming • Lottery, Bingo, Video Poker • The Problem • Societal Concerns • Revenue, Crime, Poverty, Addiction • Who Benefits? Who Pays? • Proposed Action

3. Background • Lotteries - over 3,000 years old • Popular form of voluntary taxation in England during the Georgian era • Pre-Columbus: Native American games of chance • Core American institutions built with gaming funds • 38 states and the District of Colombia now have lotteries • All but 4 states permit charitable bingo

4. Tenth Amendment “ The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

5. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act - 1988 • Under IGRA 3 classes of gaming outlined • Class 1: Social games solely for prizes of minimal value or tribal games • Class 2: Bingo and Bingo-type games • Class 3: anything other than Class 1 or 2 • Allows for equivalent levels of gaming on reservations as are permitted elsewhere in the state

6. Gaming in South Carolina • Catawba charitable bingo • Video poker (formerly) • Educational lottery

7. Catawba Charitable Bingo • South Carolina’s only federally recognized Indian Nation • 1997: Bingo parlor in Rock Hill • Largest free-standing bingo parlor in the US • 10% of gross revenue in taxes • Both operator and charity • Desire a location on the Grand Strand & in Santee

8. Video Poker • 1986: Video poker legislated in South Carolina • SC had highest number of video poker machines in the nation: 30,000 machines • Easy access by minors • Loosely monitored • July 2000: Video poker banned by the SC Supreme Court • Expanding black market after ban

9. SC Educational Lottery • On-line lottery and scratch-off games • $379 million to the State Education Lottery Account since January 2002 • Funds educational programs including: • HOPE, LIFE and Palmetto Fellows Scholarships • School buses • Gambling addiction services

10. Currently • Class II: Bingo and related games such as lotteries, etc. • Catawba charitable bingo in Rock Hill, pursuing Grand Strand location • SC Educational Lottery & scratch-off games • Video poker banned July 1, 2000 • So, what’s the problem?

11. The Problem South Carolina does not have a Gaming Commission.

12. Societal Concerns • Revenue generation • Offset other methods of taxation • Crime • Eliminates criminal activity • Promote positive environment • Poverty • Creates jobs in the local economy • Direct & indirect (construction, bingo callers, cooks) • 75% jobs (within Indian gaming) held by non-Indians

13. Further Societal Concerns • Addiction • Drugs are illegal, yet drug addiction persists • Not eliminated by outlawing gaming • National prevalence rate 0.8% for lifetime pathological gambling

14. Who Benefits? • Gaming consumers • Local economies • Indian Nation • State of South Carolina • Potential college students Who Pays? • Voluntary source of revenue • “Gamers” – those who choose to recreate in this manner

15. Proposed Action • Establish a South Carolina Gaming Commission with oversight responsibilities to ensure: • Fair treatment of consumers • Enforcement of payout ratios • Gambling addiction is addressed • South Carolina receives appropriate revenue • Approve Catawba bingo on the Grand Strand • Investigate opportunities for day cruise gaming

16. Gaming in South Carolina Questions?

17. Sources http://www.strom.clemson.edu/insight/gambling.pdf http://indiangaming.org/library/index.html http://www.sceducationlottery.com/index.asp http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/people/faculty/clotfelter/lottrep.pdf http://www.americangaming.org/ http://www.strom.clemson.edu/publications/gambling/pokermath.pdf