The two nominees for governor of South Carolina take different routes to the same place: neither rules out legal gambling. Republican Alan Wilson supports online sports betting with guardrails, while Democrat Jermaine Johnson wants the question to go before voters first.
That alone marks a shift in a state where outgoing Gov. Henry McMaster has opposed every attempt to expand gambling since taking office in 2017. The only legal gambling in the state is the South Carolina Education Lottery, which voters approved in 2000.
Wilson, the state’s attorney general, and Johnson, a state representative from Richland County, will debate Tuesday.
Wilson in favor of online sports betting
Atty. Gen. Wilson believes that online sports betting is already taking place in the Palmetto State.
“[The] internet is everywhere, and obviously, anybody can go online,” Wilson told The State. “I don’t want to criminalize conduct that people are doing on their phone.”
Many South Carolinians already bet through offshore sites or trade sports contracts using prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket. Wilson was part of a 44-state coalition that sent a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission arguing that the agency lacks authority to regulate sports event contracts.
Despite wanting to legalize online sports betting, Wilson draws a hard line with gambling at brick-and-mortar casinos. He opposes legalizing casinos.
“I made it abundantly clear that I have serious concerns about casinos in South Carolina, because I’m talking to law enforcement, faith leaders in other states, and they have voiced concerns that they wish they could go back and roll back the clock on having them in their state,” Wilson added.
Johnson’s personal experience with gambling
Johnson has a personal issue with gambling. His family lived in motels when he was growing up because of gambling addiction, he told The State.
However, the governor candidate is at least open to the idea of casinos and would want to see a referendum to gauge public support. Even with public support, Johnson said guardrails would be needed to prevent drug trafficking, human trafficking and other crimes.
“It would have to be something so drastically different for me to support something like that because we know with places like that, there’s potential for high crime areas and things like that,” Johnson said. “We need to make sure that there [are] resources in there for addictions, gambling addictions as well.”
Previous gambling expansion attempts
Despite McMaster’s opposition to gambling, South Carolina lawmakers still tried to push through efforts.
South Carolina Sens. Tom Davis and Matt Leber introduced S 444, an online sports betting bill, in March 2025. The bill was heard in February but no vote followed.
Two more bills that would legalize online sports betting and create a gaming regulator, introduced by Rep. Chris Murphy, have not moved out of the Committee on Ways and Means.
