$3 billion S.C. video gambling industry shuts down Saturday

Dan Lewerenz

Friday, June 30, 2000 | 11:02 a.m.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- In dark, smoky rooms around the state, video gambling players cashed out for the last time today as South Carolina prepared for life without the popular machines.

A law banning video gambling takes effect Saturday, gutting a $3 billion annual industry. Video gambling operators and players faced the end with a resigned indifference.

"I'm not real sad about it going because it's been such a stresser," said Kathy Babbitt, co-owner of the Money Pit in Spartanburg. "I've had a lot of fun with this, and I've made a lot of friends, but it's a lot of stress. It's a load."

Most of that stress, Babbitt said, has come from the ongoing fight to eliminate video gambling, which was illegal until state lawmakers in 1986 amended a law barring money or property payouts from video machines.

Since then, anti-gambling forces have fought to outlaw the machines, a battle that came to a head in 1998 when then-Gov. David Beasley, a Republican, called video gambling "a cancer on South Carolina" and vowed to get rid of the industry.

Video gambling operators responded by pouring money into the campaign of Democrat Jim Hodges, who won the governor's race with a promise to call for a referendum on video gambling's future.

The Legislature last year approved the referendum as part of a bill that also banned video gambling unless voters decided to keep the machines. Last October, the state Supreme Court threw out the referendum, but kept the part of the law banning video gambling on July 1.

The State Law Enforcement Division said it would make spot checks after midnight Friday to make sure machines are turned off. Operators have one week to get the machines out of the state or destroy them.

Rhea McCary, vice president of operations at Fast Freddie's, a West Columbia video gambling parlor, said there was "a little bit of a somber tone" among players this week.

"They're not really satisfied with the way things unfolded. They wanted to have their say, but they didn't get a chance," McCary said.

Terry Sciortino of Spartanburg, who gambles about $200 a week, had mixed feelings about the ban but said "for some people who are really addicted, it's probably a good thing."

Sciortino said the ban wouldn't keep him from gambling. He said he would travel to casinos in neighboring North Carolina.

Babbitt said Sciortino won't be alone.

"People are going to gamble -- you're not going to stop them," she said.