The casino proposal: A bet for economic growth in Santee

Casinos were legalized in Indiana about 30 years ago.

Indiana resident David Gerdes saw an opportunity to change his life.

He spent the next three decades doing just that, rising from a blackjack dealer to an assistant shift manager.

“It gave me a good, real good life for my family,” Gerdes said.

Now South Carolina lawmakers are considering whether that same opportunity could be brought to places like Santee, a small town in Orangeburg County.

Bill 4176 proposes the development of casinos in South Carolina, where there are none now. If the bill is passed, developers plan to start with a single temporary casino inside the old Santee Mall.

“I do think you’ll see immediately the folks that want to work, that live there locally now will have a much better opportunity to work (in) a good paying job, you know, with benefits,” said Wallace Cheves, the head of Santee Development, the developer of the proposed casino. 

 The idea of a casino, for decades, hasn’t been welcomed in South Carolina. 

But if the bill passes during this legislative session or next, then the temporary casino could open within 120 days, Cheves said.

As the temporary casino is generating business, work would begin on the permanent casino project, which aims to have the perks of a Las Vegas-style casino, including top-of-the-line restaurants, a resort-style hotel and a convention center.

Cheves touts the attractiveness of having a casino in Santee along the I-95 corridor.

“The unique thing about Santee is it’s in between New York and Florida, and that’s why Walt Disney considered this location and wanted to build Disney World there years ago,” Cheves said.

Cheves estimates this casino project would bring more than 4,600 jobs – 600 of them directly affiliated with the casino – and could generate more than $58 million in tax revenue.

 Efforts to get gaming legalized in South Carolina have failed in the past, and Gov. Henry McMaster, who has the power of the veto, has been an opponent.

 “There are better ways to make money, to give jobs, to generate tax money, to generate a thriving economy than gambling,” McMaster said in a video message provided to Carolina News & Reporter by his communications office. “It’s not consistent with our culture and our history. And there are better ways to do it — good, clean businesses and industries that are looking to come to South Carolina. It’ll hire many people, probably higher wages than some of these.”

 Gerdes remembers the same reaction from many politicians when casinos were proposed in Indiana.

 “People said the same thing in Indiana,” Gerdes recalled. “They said it would destroy the community. But we saw the opposite — jobs, growth, even less crime than expected.”

 South Carolina’s legislative session ends May 8, and the bill is still in committee, pending a vote.

 Cheves is not deterred.

 “If we don’t get it through this session, we’ll keep educating people over the summer and come back stronger in the fall,” Cheves said. “No plan B. … We’re in it to win it.”