South Carolina state Rep. Todd Rutherford recently pre-filed a House bill that would place on the 2018 ballot a constitutional amendment asking voters whether they want to allow casinos and betting on horse racing and professional sports to raise money for state roads. Regarding how much money legalized gambling could bring in, Rutherford said, “Every estimate I’ve seen ranks from the hundreds of millions of dollars to the billions of dollars.”
Rutherford added, “We could do it off of the beach. It wouldn’t have to be at Myrtle Beach proper, wouldn’t increase traffic, wouldn’t increase crime and it’d be in counties that wanted it, that needed it and it could benefit the entire state.”
Last year Rutherford filed a similar bill but it failed to get traction. He’s encouraged that President-elect Donald Trump is a casino owner. “He is well tied in to gambling. The Republicans are now well tied in to it all the way to the top. What is wrong with South Carolina benefiting from that tie in to gambling profits?”
He noted, “The Upstate historically is always going to have a problem with gambling interests, but they’re also the closest to Cherokee casinos, which does very well and does very well from people that leave the Upstate.”
Palmetto Family Council president and CEO Oran Smith stated, “The legislation in question would tear down our social infrastructure in the name of our physical infrastructure. This is not sound policy or a good trade for the families of South Carolina. Gambling is already easily accessible at casinos in the mountains, boats at the beach and on every corner through our South Carolina Education Lottery. There are more stable and ethical sources of dedicated funds for our roads and bridges. “
In 2014, in an advisory referendum, 81 percent of Democratic voters said they favored legalizing gambling to pay for roads.
