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by WILL FOLKS
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Given the extent to which the current leadership of the South Carolina Republican Party is hypocritically in the tank for state-sponsored gambling, it wasn’t surprising to see a question on the expansion of this so-called “vice” injected into the recent GOP gubernatorial debate.
Social conservatives reap millions from state government’s monopoly on gambling – and they (and their political puppets) aren’t about to let the private sector encroach on their racket. We’ve meticulously documented this hypocrisy – and the SCGOP’s starring role in advancing it – but the issue took center stage last week during the first GOP debate in Newberry, S.C.
The only candidate on stage who didn’t bend a knee to the party insiders? South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace. While her counterparts repeatedly demonstrated their fealty to the dubiously managed S.C. Education Lottery (and the tens of millions of dollars it funnels annually into private Christian colleges), Mace suggested a different approach.
According to Mace, the Palmetto State should hold a public referendum on the issue so that “everyone (can) have a say.”
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“People are already online betting,” Mace pointed out. “You can go on to Polymarket or Kalshi – you can bet on anything. You can bet on who won the debate tonight.”
Mace is correct. In fact, many of the GOP candidates tripping over themselves to secure the endorsement of president Donald Trump conveniently fail to note he is “all in” on these prediction markets – or that he is a former casino magnate. They also fail to acknowledge South Carolina’s state-run lottery was approved via referendum in 2000, meaning there is precedent in the Palmetto State for letting the people decide on this issue.
Unfortunately, far too many of those campaigning for the Republican nomination have fully subscribed to the notion of government as a heavy-handed arbiter of morals. They’ve forgotten the party to which they’ve pledged allegiance is supposed to stand for individual freedom – and free markets.
“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 in calling out this brood of vipers recently. “In other words gambling is bad… unless they are profiting from it.”
Chief among the GOP’s sanctimonious moralizers? Rom Reddy, the Lowcountry millionaire who was cleared to participate in last week’s debate but claimed he couldn’t do so owing to a “family obligation.” Curiously, Reddy found time to watch the debate as it was airing – and to immediately share his criticisms of the other candidates on social media.
Seems the diminutive political dilettante may not have been as “obligated” as he claimed…
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We bashed Reddy back in December – when he was still running the since scuttled DOGE SC movement – for his hypocritical opposition to private sector gaming.
“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),” we noted at the time.
Of course, Reddy has since dissolved his “pro-citizen” movement – essentially absorbing it into his vanity campaign for governor.
So maybe he never cared about individual liberty, either?
Bottom line: Mace deserves credit for standing in defense of personal freedom and free market capitalism. She also deserves credit for advancing the referendum concept as a potential way to resolve this issue once and for all.
We’ll see where the other candidates stand on that… or whether they intend to stand in the way of the vox populi.
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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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2 comments
Can’t have a referendum. That was tried with video poker and our Supreme Court shut it down as an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. See Joytime Distributors and Amusement Co., Inc. v. State, 338 S.C. 634, 528 S.E.2d 647 (1999).
Funny, but true story. The Christian Protestant Denominations fought the SC Lottery with all they had. Notice I did not say the SC Education Lottery as that specific name was not in the original legislation. The morning after the Lottery received approval for the process to move forward, the leaders of the Christian Protestant opponents of the Lottery were contacting legislative leaders to argue that their Christian Colleges should receive the same “tainted” monies as the secular schools. Principles can only take one so far when money is involved.