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SportsTranscript
00:00South Carolina, maybe a new sports betting bill possible being put on the ballot.
00:08I see some interesting tax numbers too, reasonable, by the way, for the state of South Carolina.
00:13I think 12.5% tax if they get this push through, very preliminary.
00:17And I would guess, Pat, if this does happen, it would be more for 2026, but maybe past
00:21next year.
00:22Does that sound right?
00:23Yeah, I think, I mean, yeah.
00:25So a new bill coming out, it is bipartisan, it's got a Republican and a Democratic sponsor.
00:29So that's promising in itself because of course, as we always talk about here, it is
00:33a very bipartisan issue.
00:36You need people on both sides of the aisle because of, you know, dissenters on both sides
00:40of the aisle.
00:41Now, South Carolina is one of those Southern states that sees a lot of, you know, Republican
00:47conservative opposition to gambling.
00:49And as a Republican controlled state, that's kind of an issue in itself.
00:53We've heard a lot of things, you know, there's rumors out there that Senator Lindsey Graham,
00:57of course he's US, but he's probably the biggest political name in South Carolina,
01:02is against gambling.
01:03So it probably won't do anything until he leaves office.
01:07But also, you know, they're getting kind of worked up in states around them that have
01:11sports betting.
01:12Of course, North Carolina went live, and I think that's going to put a lot of pressure
01:16on South Carolina.
01:18And I've heard from some proponents that it probably won't get anywhere until Georgia
01:23legalizes, which again, you know, that's something we've talked about ad nauseum the
01:28last couple of years of Georgia coming close, almost getting it done, not quite getting
01:32it done.
01:33They're going to be a front runner to get it done in 2025.
01:36Does that make it kind of a situation where South Carolina lawmakers say, oh, we can do
01:40it to this year, or are we going to wait until 2026 after Georgia launches?
01:46We'll see there.
01:47But yeah, it's a fairly standard bill.
01:49You've got, you know, eight licenses, which I think is pretty sound for a state the size
01:52of South Carolina.
01:53To your point, a very industry friendly 12.5% tax rate with full deductions for promo promos
02:00and federal excise taxes.
02:02Very industry friendly.
02:04I think lawmakers there are starting to say, okay, most states in the union have done it.
02:09A lot of states surrounding us, including our North Carolina neighbor and nearby Tennessee
02:14have done it.
02:15A lot of other neighbors are very close to kind of getting something done, whether it's
02:19Georgia getting sports betting done, or Alabama starting to expand their gambling abilities,
02:26or at least thinking about it and nearing that.
02:29So yeah, South Carolina, definitely something to watch.
02:31I don't think they'll get it done in 2025.
02:34But you know, there's always surprises out there in the political world.
02:36And, you know, as I'm working on my predictions over there at LSR for the holiday weekend
02:42week, in our look ahead and look back stories, I do think two states will get it done.
02:47What two states next year?
02:48I'm not sure.
02:49But South Carolina, you know, they're a dark horse and could.