South Carolina residents overwhelmingly support the establishment of casino gaming in the Palmetto State, according to the results of a recent survey obtained exclusively by FITSNews.
A whopping 63% of likely general election voters – and 58% of GOP primary voters – support state lawmakers “allowing a casino to be built in South Carolina,” per the poll.
“This includes majorities of every single demographic and geographic group, including 61% among voters who consider themselves supporters of the MAGA movement and 51% of voters who attend church at least once a week,” a memo accompanying the results noted.
That’s right… according to these findings, a narrow majority of regular church-goers back the development of a casino in the Palmetto State. In fact, 31% of weekly church-goers strongly supported the idea – compared to 27% who strongly opposed it. Also, 68% of weekly church-goers acknowledged having previously purchased a lottery ticket – while 59% acknowledged having previously visited a casino.
Years ago, numbers like that would have been completely unheard of amongst South Carolina evangelical voters…
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Translation? South Carolina evangelical leaders currently beating the drum against a proposed casino clearly have a much bigger problem to worry about than their own hypocrisy on the issue of gaming.
As previously reported, plans are in the works to erect a state-of-the-art, high-end casino development in Santee, S.C. – a town of approximately 1,000 people located southwest of Lake Marion. This facility would include a 300,000- to 400,000-square-foot casino tethered to a 300- to 600-room luxury hotel and convention center on approximately forty acres near Interstate 95.
The goal of the facility? To attract out-of-state travelers on this major national thoroughfare as they travel to and from Florida and the American northeast.
“We want it to not just be a casino, we want it to be more like a resort,” Greenville, S.C. businessman Wallace Cheves told The (Orangeburg, S.C.) Times & Democrat this week. “There are so many things that Santee can offer from Lake Marion: fishing, hunting experiences, a lot of golf. We want to tie in, blend in to make this more like a sportsman’s resort, if you will.”
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Cheves told the paper the proposed hotel “would be something that can blend in with the natural resources and the exterior of Santee and Lake Marion.”
Santee is located at the epicenter of the Palmetto State’s so-called “corridor of shame,” a rural region which has historically lagged behind the rest of the state in virtually all metrics related to community advancement and individual prosperity. South Carolina, incidentally, lags behind the rest of the nation in all of those metics.
Cheves believes his project could reverse those historic trends.
“We think it is going to take something like this to actually do something about it,” he told the Times & Democrat.
Independent economic projections estimate the casino would have an $8 billion impact on South Carolina’s economy within the first 10 years, “creating thousands of good-paying jobs, driving tourism, and expanding business opportunities for local communities,” per Cheves.
Best of all? Cheves isn’t asking for any money from the state, noting his project “should be driven by private enterprise, not taxpayer dollars, ensuring no financial risk to the public sector.”
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RELATED | CASINO OPPONENTS TOOK MILLIONS FROM GAMING
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Polling questions asked after the baseline results touted the potential economic benefit of the project – including an estimated 2,900 jobs locally and support for another 1,700 jobs statewide (along with $242 million in new wages).
Not surprisingly, those data points pushed support for the project even higher amongst all demographic groups in the poll.
Regular members of the FITSNews audience know this outlet has editorialized for years in favor of precisely such projects. We have consistently called on state leaders to surrender their state-sponsored gambling monopoly – the so-called “education” lottery – and allow private sector casino developments to flourish within our borders.
Sounds like the people of the state are on board with the idea… are their leaders?
The survey – conducted by Arlington, Virginia-based BK Strategies – polled 600 likely general election voters in South Carolina from February 11-13, 2025. A mix of landlines and cell phones were used. The margin of error of the survey is plus or minus 4%.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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