SC Voices its Stand on Legalizing Gambling
There is another state looking to legalize poker. South Carolina is the latest state to voice an opinion on the issue of legalizing gambling. Recently the state’s ancient laws were called into question. The problem with many states is not that gambling is deemed illegal, but rather that laws involving online and land-based gambling is not written effectively. For example, the UIGEA of 2006 put the responsibility of monitoring gambling into the hands of financial institutions, however it never truly delineated what the term “gambling” includes. Many financial institutions swept any gambling or lottery-like activity under the same umbrella and deemed them illegal. In reality though, lotteries under some specific circumstances are legal. This created many problems for organizations that look to lotteries as a means of fund-raising and need the additional cash to make it through their annual budgets. This is just one of the reasons why states are revisiting the issues now and trying to come up with ways gambling can benefit all parties involved through regulation.
Now South Carolina is contemplating changing its laws. The House’s sub-committee voted 4 to 1 to alter the state’s law, which was written back in 1802. The old laws ban any “card or dice” gaming within the state. The new law would overturn that one, and replace it with the legalization of socialized gambling. This means that local police raids would be no longer necessary and players would not be threatened with legal action for their activities. The new bill also would open the door for state-certified non-profit groups to continue using raffles if the appropriate amount of revenue was directed towards charitable organizations and purposes. This is good news for all charitable organizations who rely on fundraising.
On a side note, legislators want people to know that this was never meant to be a move that opened the door for full-on gambling expansion. The issue is not out of the question, but this issue and debate was a separate issue. The distinction was made because due to former regulatory debates expansion was put on hold earlier last year. Many legislators are still afraid of touching the issue and would rather shelve it for a few more months. This issue was solely to deal with this issue and the parties involved in legal-versus-illegal activities.
Tags: gambling, legal, SC, South Carolina
