South Carolina § 3-11-400 - Applicability to United States and foreign-flagged vessels; surcharges on gambling vessel ticket sales; enactment of prohibiting ordinance.

§ 3-11-400. Applicability to United States and foreign-flagged vessels; surcharges on gambling vessel ticket sales; enactment of prohibiting ordinance.

(A) This chapter does not apply to any gambling activity conducted on United States-flagged or foreign-flagged vessels during travel from a foreign nation or another state or possession of the United States up to the point of first entry into South Carolina waters or during travel to a foreign nation or another state or possession of the United States from the point of departure from South Carolina waters, provided that such vessels make intervening stops as defined in this chapter. Nothing herein precludes prosecution for any other offense that is unlawful.

(B) The provisions of this chapter must not be construed to:

(1) repeal or modify any other provision of law relating to gambling, or any existing county or municipal ordinance regulating or prohibiting gambling or gambling vessels;

(2) repeal or modify any law with regard to bingo or the operation of a device or machine pursuant to Section 12-21-2720(A)(3);

(3) allow or permit gambling aboard any vessel, gambling vessel, or passenger cruise liner within the territorial waters of the State;

(4) preclude prosecution for any other applicable gambling offense under state law; or

(5) preclude prosecution for violations of 15 U.S.C. Sections 1172, 1173, 1174, or 1175, to the extent not otherwise prohibited by provisions of the South Carolina Constitution.

(C)(1) For purposes of this section, "gross proceeds" means the total amount wagered or otherwise paid, in cash or credit, by a passenger or user of a gambling device aboard a gambling vessel.

(2) If a county or municipality does not adopt an ordinance prohibiting a gambling vessel from operating, or if a gambling vessel other than a passenger cruise liner is permitted to operate because that gambling vessel, on each cruise, makes an intervening stop in another State, possession of the United States, or foreign country, the county or municipality may assess a surcharge of up to ten percent of each ticket sold per gambling cruise, and a surcharge of up to five percent of the gross proceeds of each gambling vessel.

(3)(a) If a county or municipality assesses the surcharges set forth in item (2), then the proceeds of the surcharges are to be paid to the county or municipality from which the gambling vessel originates its cruise. The county or municipality is responsible for setting forth the procedures by which the proceeds are paid to the county or the municipality.

(b)(i) Each gambling vessel must report to the Department of Revenue, on a monthly basis, the average daily percentage of winnings to losses for each gambling device used on a gambling vessel. The report must be delivered to the Department of Revenue on the twentieth day of the month for the preceding month, in a form and format determined by the department. If no gambling devices are used, the gambling vessel must report to the department that no gambling devices were used. The department must perform an annual audit to verify the accuracy of the reports.

(ii) A gambling vessel that fails to deliver the report of winnings and losses to the department may be assessed a civil penalty up to the amount of one hundred dollars per day per gambling device for each day that the report is late.

(iii) The department must make this information available, on a quarterly basis, to the governing body of the county or municipality from which the gambling vessel originates and to the general public. In addition, quarterly reports must be submitted to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

(iv) The department is authorized to promulgate regulations to implement the provisions of this subsection.

(D) When a county or municipality enacts an ordinance pursuant to Sections 3-11-200 or 3-11-300 prohibiting gambling vessels, and a gambling vessel business operating as of January 1, 2005, would cease operation because of enforcement of this ordinance, then the county or municipality must allow the continued operation of the gambling vessel business for a period of five years from the effective date of the county or municipal ordinance. If, after the enactment of an ordinance pursuant to Sections 3-11-200 or 3-11-300 prohibiting gambling vessels, a county or municipality subsequently enacts an ordinance allowing gambling vessels and then enacts a later ordinance prohibiting gambling vessels and a gambling vessel business, the county or municipality must allow the continued operation of the gambling vessel business for a period of five years from the effective date of the county or municipal ordinance. The gambling vessel business must only operate in the same location with no more than the number of vessels that were operating as of January 1, 2005. The provisions of this subsection are also applicable to a county or municipal ordinance substantially described in Section 3-11-500(A).

HISTORY: 2005 Act No. 104, SECTION 2, eff June 1, 2005; 2019 Act No. 1 (S.2), SECTION 28, eff January 31, 2019.

Editor's Note

2005 Act No. 104, SECTION 3, provides as follows:

"The exceptions for passenger cruise lines and Section 3-11-400(D) in this act are so connected with the other sections of the act that they are mutually dependent on each other as conditions and considerations for each other, so that the General Assembly would not have adopted this act without them; therefore, should these exceptions be found unconstitutional or invalid, it is the intent of the General Assembly that the entire act be found invalid."

Effect of Amendment

2019 Act No. 1, SECTION 28, in (C)(3)(b)(iii), in the second sentence, substituted "President of the Senate" for "President Pro Tempore of the Senate".