The South Carolina State Judiciary Committee recently ratified Senate Bills 535 and 628 by a vote of twelve to eight and the measures now look set for a full vote before the full Senate sometime next year.

Bill 535 also outlines the process by which a non-profit organisation may obtain a gaming license, although it asserts that 90 percent of any monies raised in an event must go directly to charity.

In February, five home poker players in the southern state were found guilty under a law from 1802 that, when read literally, makes it illegal to take part in any diversion played with cards or dice including board games such as Monopoly. However, Mount Pleasant Municipal Judge Larry Duffy ruled at the time that poker was a game of skill and not one of luck or chance, which prompted some legislators to take a second look at the antiquated legislation.

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) poker advocacy group lobbied hard through its nearly 10,000 members in the state for a change to the law and commended the Committee for passing the two pieces of legislation.

“The thousands of poker players in the state are now one step closer to being allowed to enjoy a game of poker online or with their friends around the kitchen table without the fear of being accused of a crime under outdated state laws,” said John Ridgeway, South Carolina State Director for the PPA.

“With the continued rising popularity of poker across the country and the state of South Carolina, it is vital that any laws related to gaming not only reflect he realities of the 21st Century but establish a clear definition of what constitutes legal gaming and what constitutes illegal gaming,” said John Pappas, Executive Director for the PPA.

“These two bills achieve those goals and we urge the South Carolina Senate to quickly bring these pieces of legislation to the floor for a vote before the end of the session.”

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The small state’s Senate passed legislation last week by a vote of 17 to two with two abstentions that legalised sportsbetting before Governor Jack Markell subsequently signed it into law on Thursday. The legislation had earlier made it through the Delaware House of Representatives by a vote of thirty to four after weeks of tough negotiations.

“I am very pleased that the Senate acted so quickly to pass the sports lottery legislation and I very much appreciate the leadership from both sides of the aisle,” said Governor Markell.

“Delaware has a unique potential advantage because it is the only state east of the Mississippi that is authorised by Federal Law to have a sports lottery.”

This distinctive situation is down to the fact that, due to a brief experiment with sportsbetting in the 1970s, Delaware is one of four states along with Oregon, Montana and Nevada that are excluded from 1992’s Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that bans sports gambling.

The new legislation permits players at Delaware’s three casinos to place wagers on sporting matches with the state getting 45 percent of any revenues.

Both the National Football League (NFL) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) have criticised the new measure over claims that it will hurt the integrity of sports. Governor Markell revealed last week that the NFL has even threatened to take his state to court over the matter.

‘We expect that everyone involved in the administration of sports leagues, professional and college, will review today’s action and evaluate its impact as other decisions are made by Delaware officials and the Delaware Supreme Court,’ said Greg Aiello, spokesperson for the NFL.

Stacey Osburn, spokesperson for the NCAA called sports wagering ‘a problem, not a solution’ to the state’s to budget problems but Governor Markell disagreed.

“My real issue with them is they ought not to be coming into Delaware and telling us as Delawareans how to run our state,’ the Governor told ESPN.

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According to a report from online news portal Gambling911.com, the western state is looking towards online poker as a way to help solve its troubled economy, which has the second highest foreclosure rate in the country and near double-digit unemployment.

However, Gambling911.com reported that the state would not be speaking with PartyGaming due to Anurag Dikshit, the online operator’s billionaire co-founder who recently pled guilty and agreed to pay a $300 million fine.

‘Too much baggage,’ Gambling911.com quoted a source.

‘California is not going to have an online poker room licensed in the state where one of the founders pleaded guilty before he was even charged with a crime.

‘888.com is one that’s been mentioned. They are looking at companies that are publicly traded and 888.com fits the bill. They are also trying to settle any issues with the US Government in relation to their taking bets from US customers prior to passage of poker prohibition in 2006, much like PartyGaming, but nobody there is turning themselves in.’

Although California is the world’s eighth largest economy, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reached a compromise with legislators this week that increased taxes and cut services in order to close a $42 million budget deficit.

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