Gambling ship is coming in for S.C.

Scores of S.C. lawmakers are lining up behind bills to ban the gambling boats when the session begins Tuesday.

But in the past week, lobbyists hired by the boats' owners have intensified efforts to persuade lawmakers that offshore casinos can boost the state's economy.

For two months now, thousands of gamblers from across the Carolinas have rolled craps and drawn blackjack on the Victori Casino, the S.C. coast's first offshore gambling boat, docked at the Grand Strand's northern tip.

After years of success in Florida, gambling boat operators are realizing the Carolinas' coast, with its cozy climate and bustling tourism industry, is ripe for the floating casinos.

In addition to the Stardancer and Victori Casino, operators plan to dock two more boats in South Carolina and a businessman is eyeing North Carolina's shores.

If the boats get banned from South Carolina, the owners say they may head to North Carolina. Anticipating this, an N.C. legislator is preparing a bill to ban the boats from docking in his state as well.

S.C. legislators have already prefiled anti-casino boat bills in the House and Senate. The Senate bill has 29 sponsors, enough to ensure its passage, and the House bill, which would need 63 votes to pass, has 45 sponsors.

``We've got enough gambling already,'' said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville.

Games of chance have blossomed in South Carolina. Most noticeable has been the rapid growth of video poker, which has doubled in size since 1991 to a $2 billion a year business with 30,000 machines. In November, Jim Hodges was elected governor after campaigning for a lottery.

In such a climate, experts suspect lawmakers will have difficulty barring the casino boats. Bill Thompson, a nationally recognized gambling expert, notes that attempts to ban video poker in South Carolina and offshore casinos in Florida failed after heavy industry lobbying efforts.

``I'd be surprised if the legislature actually banned the boats,'' said Thompson, a University of Nevada at Las Vegas professor.

The owners are hoping to persuade lawmakers by inviting them to impose regulations and taxes on top of the income and admissions taxes operators already must pay. Doing so, they say, could net the state as much as $2 million a year per boat, and they project South Carolina could support as many as 10 boats.

The owners already have some local businesses on their side. Since the Victori Casino took its Nov. 13 inaugural cruise from Little River, motel and restaurant owners say business in the 3,000-resident fishing village has been hopping. The three-deck catamaran has attracted 12,000 gamblers, some from as far as Georgia.

``They come down here and blow their money on our restaurants, our hotels and our boat,'' said Andrew Thielen, the Little River Chamber of Commerce director, who sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday urging them to not ban the boats. ``They're going to spend their money anyway, let them spend it in South Carolina.''

But some homeowners worry about what gambling boats might do to their quaint community. State Rep. Tracey Edge, R-Myrtle Beach, said he's gotten dozens of calls from concerned residents.

``If one comes, a lot will come,'' said Edge. ``My fear is that if we do not pass a bill right away, they'll hire a lot of lobbyists and it'll be tough to ban the boats.''

`A Tremendous Market'

The Victori's owner, Dewayne Williams, had planned to come to South Carolina for the past year.

But after state officials indicated they might try to arrest him, he asked a federal judge to clarify the law. U.S. District Judge David Norton ruled that offshore gambling is legal unless a state passes a law specifically prohibiting it. The only state with such a law is California.

Williams, a 59-year-old Florida casino boat operator, plans to bring another boat to the Grand Strand next spring, to Murrells Inlet, a similar fishing village about 15 miles south of Little River.

The 500-passenger Stardancer is also headed for a dock in Little River. Its owners -- two from Atlanta and one from Las Vegas -- are confident a legislative vote will be sidestepped and hope to launch the first cruise within a month.

Another Florida businessman, Charles Liberis, has leased a dock in Little River and plans to start shuttling gamblers to international waters by February. Liberis said he's also negotiating for undisclosed dock space in North Carolina and Virginia.

The boat owners hope to tap into the Carolina coast's booming tourism industry. An estimated 14 million vacationers visit the Grand Strand each year to sunbathe and play golf. ``I think there's a tremendous market there,'' Liberis said.

Raleigh pizzeria owner Joe Dibartolo has driven to Little River to gamble five times since the boat arrived. Once the boat reaches international waters, gamblers such as Dibartolo can choose between 190 slot machines, a craps table, a roulette wheel and 14 felt-covered poker and blackjack tables. ``It's a lot better to have this three hours away than to have to go eight hours to Atlantic City,'' said Dibartolo, who has broken even so far. ``I like it.''

Little regulation, taxation

If S.C. legislators fail to ban the offshore casinos, gambling expert Thompson warns that the state could repeat past mistakes. Video poker opponents have avoided taxing the industry because they feared doing so would legitimize the games and make them impossible to eliminate. As a result, the electronic card games have proliferated with little regulation.

In Florida, the casino boats have flourished similarly. The first boats arrived in 1986, but contradicting court rulings left their legality unclear. In 1987, a legislator tacked an amendment onto a bingo bill, legalizing the offshore casino industry with little debate.

Since Florida last tried to ban it in 1994, the industry has grown from 10 boats to 28 -- some of which carry 1,000 gamblers at a time. The cruises take in more than $170 million a year, making up the bulk of the nation's $219 million offshore gambling industry, according to Anthony Cabot, author of the book ``Federal Gambling Law.'' In recent years, boats have begun operating in Savannah, Ga., Gloucester, Mass., and Long Island and Brooklyn, N.Y.

Casino boat opponents have criticized Florida for allowing the boats to operate unregulated. No one issues licenses, ensures the games aren't rigged or checks owners' backgrounds -- and several owners continue to operate despite criminal records, including Dewayne Williams.

Williams was charged in 1992 with falsifying federal currency reports on a gambling ship he operated in Biloxi, Miss. He pleaded guilty to contempt of court and got six-months probation, and the state gaming commission then denied him a gambling license.

Williams was also arrested in 1994 for failing to pay five months of state sales taxes on his gambling ship in Mayport, Fla. He said he didn't pay because the cruise ship industry was protesting the tax law. The charges were dropped after he paid $58,474 in fines.

Despite the charges, Mayport officials say the tourism created by his boat has helped revitalize the struggling fishing village north of Jacksonville Beach.

``His boat brings a lot of traffic to the community and I think everybody's benefiting from that,'' said Jacksonville City Councilman Dick Brown, who sits on the Mayport redevelopment board with Williams. ``He really has been a good neighbor.''

Thompson, the UNLV professor, agrees the offshore gambling industry can be good for a state, but only if the industry is properly taxed and regulated. He also said the industry would need to feed off tourists, not locals, so that it would bring new money into the state.

Offshore gambling in the Carolinas is unlikely to reach the size or impact of video poker; casino boats nationwide take in only about 10 percent as much as video poker does in South Carolina.

If the boats do get shipped out of South Carolina, Williams says he may move the Victori Casino and his other boat to North Carolina or Virginia.

``We have a good customer base from North Carolina already,'' Williams said. ``We have people driving all the way from Charlotte.''

But an N.C. legislator hopes to close the state's ports to him before he can dock. Democratic Rep. David Redwine of Brunswick County, the coastal area bordering South Carolina, plans on proposing a bill in the upcoming session to ban the boats from North Carolina.

``We would rather be a golfing, family-oriented tourism industry,'' Redwine said. ``Once you start down that slippery slope and let the boats gamble, then suddenly you'll have horse racing and a casino on Highway 17, and then you'll be Las Vegas.''