Orangeburg County residents asked legislators to greenlight a proposal to legalize a casino they argue would invigorate their area’s struggling economy.
Their pleas this week came in the first — and likely last — hearing in the House this year for three pro-gambling bills. The Ways and Means subcommittee took no vote, and the 2025 session ends in two weeks.
But the hearing alone signified a new willingness by Republicans to allow wide-open gambling in a Statehouse that has historically avoided even small changes to the state’s anti-gambling laws.
The bills considered Tuesday would legalize online sports gambling, categorize certain games of skill as not gambling and allow a casino off Interstate 95 bordering the town of Santee. The latter got the most attention at the two-hour hearing.
