Gambling a bad bet for S.C.

State agencies are looking everywhere for budget cuts — hiring and salary freezes, unpaid furloughs, reduced services — in response to the state's revenue shortfall. Despite the tough times, state leaders should dismiss any suggestion that the budget solution lies with legalized gambling. We've already had that debate.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, has renewed his call for legalized gambling beyond the state lottery. He contends that this change could add an extra $700 million to state coffers. Sen. Ford cites the local Charles Webb Center for disabled children as a possible beneficiary for new gambling money.

Never mind that the Webb Center's problems are immediate and that any financial benefits derived from additional legalized gambling would be well into the future — assuming that the Legislature actually might endorse the idea. That's unlikely given this state's rocky history with video poker.

While video poker provided revenue for the state during the years it was available, the problems it created offset any benefit. After its demise in 2000, the state's gambling problems sharply dropped, as witnessed by the decline in the number of Gambling Anonymous chapters in the state.

South Carolina has continued to resist non-lottery gambling on other fronts, including gambling cruises to nowhere, video poker at the Catawba Indian reservation, and cockfighting and dog-fighting, which are typically accompanied by high-stakes betting.

The Legislature already has dealt with some tough budget questions in its special session and will have more of the same when it reconvenes in January. There needs to be further discussion about how to assist with casualties of the budget crisis, such as the Webb Center. The center, incidentally, had its state funding cut not by the Legislature, but by the state agency that oversees its allocation.

But the state had a long and difficult debate over gambling, not so many years ago. The social costs of gambling are too high for South Carolina. A return to video poker, and the like, shouldn't be in the cards.

The Legislature should look elsewhere for ways to lead South Carolina out of financial distress. The answer is not putting large numbers of South Carolina citizens at risk of ruining their lives by gambling and revisiting its unsavory image on the state.