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by WILL FOLKS
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Our media outlet expended a lot of ink this year defending South Carolina state representative John McCravy and his organization – the S.C. Family Caucus – as it suffered the slings and arrows of the Palmetto State’s “Republican” establishment.
It was easy to do, too, because the “Republican” politicians attacking McCravy were definitional hypocrites – meaning they said one thing and did another.
And make no mistake… they will pay at the polls for their hypocrisy.
This week, however, the hypocrite label must be affixed squarely on the head of McCravy – who has been busy ginning up legislative opposition to a proposed casino resort in Santee, S.C.
“Research is clear that human trafficking, drugs, crime, addiction and economic depression follow these evil enterprises wherever they go,” McCravy claimed, saying his organization has been “sounding the alarm” against the proposed facility.
“Battle lines are forming now,” he added, vowing not to be “silenced” or “intimidated” in his opposition.
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What McCravy neglected to mention in his ‘Holier than thou’ rant against casino gaming was his steadfast support for another “evil enterprise” – South Carolina’s state-run gambling monopoly. Since his election to the S.C. House in 2017, McCravy has repeatedly voted for budgets containing hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations for the S.C. Education Lottery.
In fact, with the exception of the current spending plan he’s voted for every single state budget since he took office.
These appropriations have facilitated all manner of woke indoctrination at secular, government-run institutions of higher learning – but they’ve also helped subsidize private, Christian colleges as well. In fact, many of the Bible-beating leaders at these schools have railed against the ills of casino gaming – yet pocketed millions of dollars in lottery proceeds.
“We must not allow South Carolina to become a gambling mecca,” Steve Pettit of the socially conservative Palmetto Family Council recently said. “We know from God’s Word that virtue never rises from vice.”
Really? Then why did Bob Jones University – the Christian college Pettit led from 2014-2023 – receive nearly $11 million in lottery revenues over the previous four fiscal years, according to the S.C. Commission on Higher Education (SCCHE).
I guess virtue never arises from vice unless Pettit’s institution is profiting from that vice…
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Pettit wasn’t alone in his hypocrisy, though. A lot of sanctimonious, social conservative virtue signalers were Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V-ing the “virtue/vice” talking points as they railed against private sector gaming earlier this year.
“Remember that sinful desire, always wanting more and more, leads us down a path of self-destruction and virtue cannot rise out of vice,” echoed Tony Beam, a policy consultant for the South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) stated recently. “(We) can do better than putting South Carolinians’ financial and spiritual well-being at stake by opening our doors to more gambling.”
While Beam waxed judgmental (and unoriginal), it’s worth pointing out he hasn’t surrendered his side hustle as senior director of church and community engagement at North Greenville University (NGU) – which according to SCCHE records has received $15.2 million in lottery revenues over the four previous fiscal years.
Two other schools affiliated with the SCBC – Anderson University and Charleston Southern University – have received $37.6 million and $22.5 million, respectively, over the four previous fiscal years from lottery revenues.
Talk about “wanting more and more,” right?
And far from taking a principled stand against gambling, McCravy has consistently voted in favor of these multi-million-dollar government-run gambling windfalls – as have a majority of the members of his “Family Caucus.” They’ve subsidized the hypocrisy, in other words.
In addition to being hypocrites…
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“Dozens of ostensibly ‘conservative’ lawmakers love to rail against the evils of gambling – which they regard as a vice – but are all too happy to rake in tens of millions of dollars from government’s gambling monopoly,” I noted recently in calling out this brood of vipers. “In other words gambling is bad… unless they are profiting from it.”
Or unless they are reaping political capital from their “opposition…”
Worst of all, McCravy’s sudden burst of energy on this issue isn’t even powered by his own steam. It’s borrowed bravado. He’s not flexing his own muscle, he’s riffing off of a statement made by DOGE SC founder Rom Reddy – who signaled his opposition to casino gaming earlier this week.
“There is no tax revenue large enough to justify creating an environment where even one child is harmed,” Reddy wrote, citing human trafficking concerns as the motivation behind his opposition. “Not here. Not ever.”
Due respect to Reddy – who has become one of the Palmetto State’s most indispensable change agents of late – but he appears to have fallen into the same trap as the S.C. Freedom Caucus on this issue.
Seriously, you can’t found a movement based on individual liberty and empowering citizens and then tell those citizens what choices they can and cannot make with their own money (especially when doing so props up a government-run racket).
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Reddy seemed to acknowledge as much earlier in his statement…
“While I believe adults should have the freedom to spend their money as they choose, I am strongly opposed to building a casino at this location,” Reddy stated.
Okay, then… what about other locations? Because we’ve been saying for years that casinos on the coast could give South Carolina’s tourism industry a much-needed shot in the arm.
Also, here’s a fundamental question for everyone who opposes casinos (at any location), or sports betting, or prediction markets, etc.: where are your bills outlawing the government lottery? And zeroing out its funding? Because we’ve had our fill of moralizers like McCravy whose selective outrage on the issue of gambling allows the state to continue effectively buying off the religious right with lottery proceeds…
Lawmakers instituted the lottery in 2002, they can un-institute it this year. Or at the very least advance a referendum on it – along with referendums on casino gaming, sports betting and prediction markets.
Or are they afraid to see what the public has to say on these issues?
McCravy is right about one thing, though: battle lines are indeed forming. He’s just got to figure out which side of the battle he’s actually on… and which side he’s actually against.
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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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4 comments
Sounds like normal run-of-the-mill Republican evangelicals to me
These are all good points by Will. You cannot be against gambling and for gambling at the same time. Unless you are a politician, I guess.
Good column, pointing out another example of right-wing evangelical hypocrisy. Fits nicely along with their strong support of a President who is the antithesis of a Christian.
Let’s pump the brakes here for a second. If the true stated reason for opposing a casino is increased “human trafficking, drugs, crime, addiction and economic depression” then before I would label the anti-casino/pro-lottery crowd as hypocrites I would first examine if there is reasonable factual support for that statement, and then examine if the lottery does the same. If so, then the label is apt. I honestly don’t know the answer to that question, but on just a casual observation level, I can’t say that I’ve seen much of a correlation between the lottery and those social ails beyond whatever already existed in the particular locale. I do think there is strong evidence that state lottery sales are highest in the poorest neighborhoods, so there is an argument to be made that it effectively becomes a transfer of wealth issue from the poor neighborhoods to the affluent university class – but it’s a free country, and no-one is forcing anyone to buy tickets. And while I would have concerns about my young adult children going to Vegas or a local casino for fear of them getting into those kinds of troubles, I wouldn’t have those fears about them pulling into our local Circle-K and buying a lottery ticket.