Todd Rutherford Says Casinos in Myrtle Beach Would Be Multi-Billion Dollar Revenue Streams
A new debate is starting over the idea of bringing casinos to Myrtle Beach. The beach side resort city brings countless tourists each year to play golf and enjoy the beaches. It’s natural enough for some enterprising business people to consider adding beachfront casino resorts to the tourist attractions.
Supporters of a casino industry in South Carolina say gaming would boost tourism. Gamblers often bring family members, who might prefer to shop, spend time at the spa, or dine out while the gaming is taking place. Casino gambling would bring in a great deal of revenue, especially in a region like the American southeast, where the casino market is not saturated.
Reasons Against Myrtle Beach Casinos
Opponents of casinos have a list of reasons they find gambling abhorrent. Opponents say crime follows the casinos. Anti-gambling policy groups say problem gambling often falls on the people in society less equipped to lose cash. Their families and loved ones suffer, while the casinos get rich. Plus, many residents view gambling as an immoral act, as something basically dishonest.
When casino gambling is discussed in South Carolina, the topic is sure to be controversial. Myrtle Beach Councilman Randall Wallace says it’s always been so. Wallace told The State, “Anytime you’ve got gambling going on, you’re going to have people fighting it. When we had video poker here, it was a never-ending fight.”
Todd Rutherford to Introduce Casino Bill
Despite its contentious nature, South Carolina State Representative Todd Rutherford, the House Minority Leader, said he plans to introduce a casino gambling bill next year to the legislature. Rutherford says he would like to legalize upscale casinos on the Grand Strand. Using the revenues the state would collect from such gaming, Rutherford would fund projects to fix the roads and bridges of the state.
Todd Rutherford says a native casino industry would create a multi-billion dollar revenue stream without raising taxes. The revenues would pay for state road renovations without a direct levy on taxpayers. It would also forgo the need to build toll roads and hand them over to private companies–an indirect tax which is being used by several nearby states. Casino gambling also would keep South Carolina from raising the gas tax rate, which has not been raised since 1987 and is one of the lowest in the country.
Myrtle Beach Mayor Remains Skeptical
Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes says he is not ready to discuss Rutherford’s proposed law. Rhodes told the press, “It’s all speculation and I don’t like to speculate on something that’s not concrete.” Sounding a skeptical tone, Rhodes added, “It’s been tried before and it’s failed before.”
The idea of casino gambling has a number of South Carolina residents rallying against any gambling bill. The Peoples’ Rally, a Myrtle Beach group which protests various new laws, held a rally on Friday and Saturday to protest casino gambling. David Hucks, the rally’s organizer, said his concerns are based in his Christian faith. Hucks said, “We like too many decisions are driven by money and not enough is driven by heart.”
Anti-Casinos and Anti-Beach Tent Bans
The rally is about more than just gambling. Protestors want to show their disdain for laws banning beach tents. They also want to show their discontent over the wave of violence this last Memorial Day Weekend, when 8 shootings happened. The shooting left 3 people days and 7 other people wounded.
Hucks spoke for his ralliers when he said, “Myrtle Beach has always been a family town. The last thing we want is for it to become a gambling town.”
Myrtle Beach Casino Cruise Line
Myrtle Beach already has a gambling industry, of sorts. The Grand Strand has a cruise boat in dock for the Big M Casino. The Big M Casino handles casino cruises, in which patrons are taken more than 3 miles out to sea, to international waters. In international waters, U.S. and South Carolina gambling laws do not apply.
The casino cruises are legal businesses operating within the law, and these operations cater to a more genteel, high-dollar crowd. Even at that, such operations have high expenses, so they are not as profitable as a land-based casino. Land casinos can host many more customers, can stay open 24 hours a day, and don’t have gas expenses. The SunCruz casino cruise boat, which operated out of Little River, closed for business last Monday.
South Carolina Indian Casinos
In short, the land-based casinos are where the real money is at. Todd Rutherford is not the only one seeking a casino operation in the area. A nearby Native American tribe has tried for years to win the right to build a casino.
The Catawba Indian Nation has tried to win licensing for a York County Reservation casino for years. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled against the tribe being allowed to build their own casino. The Catawbas are the only federally recognized Indian tribe in South Carolina, so their defeat appears to thwart the idea of any Indian casinos in the state.
