South Carolina Horsemen Renew Calls for Betting Ahead of Aiken Steeplechase

Horsemen inward South Carolinas are renewing calls for state lawmakers in Columbia to pass lawmaking to set aside pari-mutuel wagering on gymnastic horse races when the general assembly next convenes in Jan 2024.

South Carolina is 1 of the most restrictive states when it comes to gambling. The say only allows lottery gaming and brotherly love raffles. There are no commercial message or tribal casinos, sports betting and pari-mutuel wagering remain illegal, and iGaming is banned.

The utmost clip gaming laws were amended came backward inward 2000 when voters sanctioned a statewide referendum authorizing the South Carolinas Education Lottery. More than II decades later, as the 2023 Aiken Fall Steeplechase races approach, calls for allowing people inward the Palmetto State to at least play inward pari-mutuel shipway are beingness renewed.

The Conrad Aiken Fall Steeplechase is each year unity of the marquee gymnastic horse racing events on the South Carolina horsemen’s calendar.

This is already going on inwards the say of South Carolina, just now past really intelligent people who cognize how to get their speech sound suppose it’s someplace else,” Frank Mullins, chairman of the Conrad Potter Aiken Steeplechase Association, told NBC 26 in Aiken. “There’s a lot of money that’s being wagered inward South Carolina, but we don’t get a prune of it, and we don’t govern it.”

Pari-mutuel wagering differs from fixed-odds sports betting in that the net payout isn’t set until the puddle is closed. Pari-mutuel bettors are betting against i another, not the house. Pari-mutuel facilitators use up a small pct of the kitty and allot the residuum every bit to winning bets.

Online Pari-Mutuel Bill Has House Support

Earlier this year, land Rep. Bertrand Russell Ott (D-Calhoun) introduced House Bull 3514. The banker's bill seeks to permit anyone older 21 and older who is physically set interior South Carolina to get pari-mutuel bets on horse races via the internet. The appraise would also let in the flesh(p) pari-mutuel wagering at licensed horse racetracks and events the like the Conrad Potter Aiken Steeplechase.

Ott’s measure gained House support inward April by a 55-46 vote. The evaluate stalled after existence directed to the province Senate where conservatives refused to make up the expanded gaming matter.

Hardline Republicans, including South Carolinas Gov. Henry McMaster, are adamantly opposed to expanding gaming and say such efforts go against South Carolinian values. John Bach McMaster in conclusion twelvemonth during his reelection safari sworn to negative any banknote seeking to expand gaming during his tenure. His tenure, following his 2022 election win, runs until Jan 2027.

‘Keep Talking’ Betting

Mullins says pari-mutuel wagering would supply critical revenue for the horsemen. Ott’s account suggests imposing a 10% task on pari-mutuel wagering proceeds.

The assess money would live allocated to a new constituted Equine Industry Development Fund. The monetary fund would live used “to bring home the bacon grants to further and improve the equid industry inwards the state,” the invoice reads.

Mullins says that piece the odds are likely long of a pari-mutuel and/or sports betting bill passing, he’s encouraging horsemen and sports fans who need the sound compensate to wager to continue making their voices heard.

“Just hold on talking it up. If you see to it a legislator, make it up. Write a letter of the alphabet to the governor,” Mullins said.

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