Little worries as Little River prepares to lose video gambling

Monday, June 19, 2000 | 9:22 a.m.

The small community of 5,000 known as Little Reno because of its machines appears unconcerned at the prospect of losing the games

"I don't think it will change Little River that much if it stays or if it goes," said Danny Juel, captain of the fishing boat Pride of the Carolinas. "The machines don't bother me one way or the other."

Little River's Touch of Vegas video gambling casino went on the market recently - just one of the victims of the July 1 ban on the games.

"There's going to be a whole bunch of vacant real estate up here," said Roger Munnerlyn, Touch of Vegas' owner. "Most of these buildings aren't suitable for much other than gambling."

"We've already had a lot of interest in the office space, so I don't think those places will be empty long," said Andrew Thielen, Little River's Chamber of Commerce director. "If gambling goes, other businesses will take their place."

But Munnerlyn says perhaps the hardest-hit victims of video gambling's end will be casino employees.

"I'm going to be out of a job," Touch of Vegas worker Betty Martin said. "And who's going to hire me now? I'm almost 70 years old."

More than 200 people work in casinos in the Little River area.

Long before the neon signs, and the traffic jams, before the novelty shops and restaurants and long before the video gambling, Little River was a quiet fishing village.

One of Little River's more vocal opponents of the gambling industry, Sandra Wrenn, remembers when U.S. 17 was simply a two-lane government road that ran in front of her family's home.

"And there wasn't any traffic to speak off," she said.

These days, there is a constant stream of automobiles traveling through Little River on their way to Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand attractions.

"It's not a sleepy little village anymore," she said. "It'll never be that again. We know that. But whatever Little River becomes, we don't want video gambling to be a part of it."

Gambling opponents have fought the industry, which generates more than $1.2 million in taxes each year, since it began.

Casinos throughout the state are expressing the same fears about laid-off workers and lost revenue as those in Little River.

Wick Scurry, who owns the Flamingo Casino in Hardeeville, says he will have to lay off about 30 workers. "I know they won't be able to go out and make the kind of money they're making now," he said.

Scurry said his casino brought from $750,000 to $1 million a year into the local economy.

Jean Thorpe, who has worked in Little River's fishing industry since 1968, says video gambling's demise will not make a big difference in that town's future.

"A lot of people want their little fishing village back, but progress is going to happen," she said.

"It's still a beautiful place, just a little different than it used to be."