Video poker-style gaming is back, state law enforcement officials told legislators Wednesday, asking lawmakers for help to stop what they consider illegal activity.
"Gaming is back in South Carolina. It's proliferated in the last couple of years to every county," said SLED Chief Mark Keel, head of the state's top law enforcement agency.
At issue is a new breed of machines, called sweepstakes machines, and new casino-style Internet cafes that are popping up around the state.
While lawmakers outlawed video gambling 12 years ago, ambiguity in state law has led some S.C. circuit court judges and magistrates to find the new machines are legal. Law enforcement insists they are illegal.
"I thought we had a clear public policy on this, and I guess it's not so clear," said Jeff Moore, director of the S.C. Sheriffs' Association. "We believe they're illegal. They're games of chance."
While courts ultimately will decide if the machines are legal, but that could take months or even years. By then, Moore said, "The industry will have a strong foot in the state."
Two bills working their way through the House and Senate seek to clarify the state's law, declaring the machines illegal. Both bills cleared subcommittees Wednesday and now head to full committees for consideration.
Work also is under way to draft legislation to outlaw Internet cafes, where players can sit for hours at computer terminals, playing games to win cash.
"We're rapidly going down the slope of what is essentially video poker," said state Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, a sponsor of the Senate bill.
However, former Columbia mayor Bob Coble, an attorney who represents the sweepstakes machine-maker Pace-O-Matic, contends those machines are legal.
Players put money into sweepstakes machines, located in bars and convenience stores. The machines print out discount coupons players use to buy merchandise at an online site.
The player also receives free entries into a sweepstakes. The customer can play poker, keno, bingo or other games to find out whether they have won anything in the sweepstakes. The player also can opt to not play the games and, instead, instantly see if they have won the sweepstakes. Whether they play the game or not, winners receive cash from the store clerk if they win the sweepstakes.
"Some of these machines are paying out, $1,000, $1,500 at a time," Martin said.
Coble said the sweepstakes machines often are confused with more controversial machines in Internet cafes. The city of Charleston has been working to outlaw those cafes through new zoning ordinances and recently declared a six-month moratorium on new Internet cafes.
