South Carolina Legislative Subcommittee to Continue Sports Betting Legalization Discussions
A South Carolina legislative subcommittee has decided to continue its discussions on whether to legalize online sports betting in the state following a nearly two-hour hearing this week, according to WACH.
Those in favour of legalization include industry professionals and state representatives, including Trevor Hayes from Caesars Entertainment. He states that online sports betting in South Carolina has been occurring since late 2024 from legal operators, but the state is not profiting from it. He used the prediction market Kalshi as an example, noting that it generated over $10 billion in handle in one month.
Additional support came from Senator Josh Kimbrell, who noted that an estimated 415,000 South Carolinians hold sports betting accounts and drive to neighbouring states to take advantage of North Carolina sportsbook promos and Tennessee sportsbook promos while placing bets.
He added that legalizing sports betting in the state would “get rid of the black market”. However, he made it clear that he did not support expanding gambling in the state beyond sports betting, such as introducing casinos.
Governor of South Carolina Henry McMaster has made it clear in the past that he would veto any bill legalizing gambling in the state.
“Once you start letting gambling into the house it will grow and by the time such a bill makes it all the way through, you’re going to have all sorts of gambling ideas,” he said in April last year.
Additional opponents to the bill included the Palmetto Family Alliance, which warned that 18 to 29-year-old men were the most vulnerable demographic in terms of gambling harm, with higher risks of bankruptcy and bad credit.
“The concern that we have is the predatory nature of gambling and how it affects people, particularly looking at online sports betting and how it affects young men and the addiction, just the availability of it,” said vice president of the Palmetto Family Alliance, Randy Page.
South Carolina will join 38 other states with legalized sports betting if it is approved. You can stay on top of the action across the nation with our legal sports betting states tracker.
Utah Governor speaks out against CFTC
As South Carolina debates legalizing sports betting, the Governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has responded to an Op-ed from CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, who stated that the CFTC would step in to defend prediction market apps against state regulators after filing an amicus brief.
While Selig stated that it was the CFTC, not the states, that could determine whether prediction markets constitute gambling, Governor Cox responded on social media about the CFTC’s plans to step in to counter states' attempts to pass laws and regulations regarding prediction markets.
Under Utah law, all types of gambling are illegal, with residents unable to access sportsbooks or online casinos. However, prediction markets offering sports-event contracts have been able to enter the state because they are regulated federally rather than by individual states, allowing Utah residents to access the markets to make wagers.
While prediction markets argue they operate differently from the best sports betting sites, critics have disputed this claim, arguing that there are few differences between the two.
