After a failed attempt to legalize sports gambling in 2025, some members of the South Carolina legislature are trying again this year. If approved, HB 3625 or SB 444 would allow the legislature to create the South Carolina Sports Wagering Commission, which would have the authority to grant licenses to businesses for the purposes of engaging in sports betting. The bill would essentially legalize and regulate sports betting. If either bill passes, South Carolina would become the 39th state, along with the District of Columbia, to legalize sports gambling.
At the heart of the issue is South Carolina’s ability to generate revenue from the $150 billion industry. According to a report by the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, South Carolina is estimated to generate between $13 and $31 million in state tax revenue in the first year if it legalizes sports gambling, with expected increases in subsequent years. However, no amount of revenue generated from sports betting is worth the monumental damage it would cause to individuals, families, and communities in South Carolina.
Since the United States Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 in 2018, we now have research that helps us understand the negative impact of sports gambling. As sports betting has increased, so have the associated risks of gambling addiction and other problems. From 2021 to 2023, the National Problem Gambling Hotline saw approximately a 45 percent increase in calls.
The downstream effects of gambling impact multiple dimensions of our private and social lives, including mental health, interpersonal relationships, and individual and family economics. Gambling addiction affects mental health in several ways, including increased rates of anxiety, depression, social isolation, and aggression. The highs and lows of betting, combined with the ease of access to sports gambling, make for a mental rollercoaster that many people cannot stop. One research study found that in places where sports gambling is legalized, an upset loss leads to an 11 percent increase in intimate partner domestic violence. In a state where professional sports teams are advocating for legalizing sports betting, their team’s performances, in combination with gambling, may contribute to increased domestic violence in South Carolina.
Legalized gambling also creates individual financial problems. A 2024 UCLA study found increases in bankruptcies, debt collections, debt consolidation loans, auto loan delinquencies, and a decline in credit scores among those participating in sports gambling. The industry wants people addicted to the thrill of a win in order to keep them engaged. It perpetuates a cycle in which participants go deeper into debt to keep playing. While the house is winning to the tune of $150 billion, according to the research, individuals, families, and communities are losing.
The most significant effects of gambling will not be perceived as deeply as those in the upper tiers of society who have the financial means to offset addiction and family dysfunction, though. The harms of expanded gambling will be felt mostly by the lower and middle classes, who cannot afford expensive rehab and whose families will be torn apart by this predatory industry.
We also implore South Carolinians to consider the cost-benefit analysis of opening their state up to these effects by legalizing sports gambling. Do they want to experience the mental health and financial crises that impact every level of society while the industry counts its profits to the bank? While $31 million is a lot of money to many of us, the revenue from gambling would create a crisis we will regret as a society. Is $31 million in revenue worth the much higher price of societal and familial peril? And what about the untold cost in social services that will be required to help ameliorate these harms?
All South Carolinians can stand proud of our ability to fight for the best interests of our state. This is one of those times when we need to be heard for the benefit of all. Not all money is good money, and the money generated by legalizing sports gambling and casinos will have a devastating effect on South Carolinians and our guests. To deal with that, the state will have to invest in social services to treat the problems caused by legalized gambling. Is that what South Carolinians want?
Gambling is not good for South Carolina, and legalizing it takes the independence and strength of South Carolinians and places it into the hands of a predatory industry that only cares about making a profit off the addictions and subsequent problems that will negatively affect our state and our people. The truth is that there is sufficient evidence to show that the relational, economic, and societal problems outweigh the benefits of tax revenue. How many South Carolinians have to suffer before we realize that? It would be wise to learn from other states experiencing these problems with sports gambling. We urge South Carolinians to say no to the gambling industry and keep them out of our state.
— RaShan Frost is the director of Research with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and is a pastor in South Carolina. Tony Beam is the policy consultant with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.