Is online gambling legal in South Carolina?

1. 1S.444 (126th session): Interactive Sports Wagering
2. 2S.C. Code Title 12, Chapter 21 (Stamp and Business License Tax)
3. 3S.C. Education Lottery: Player FAQ
4. 4S.C. Code Title 16, Chapter 19 (Gambling and Lotteries)

• Minimum age: 18. For State lottery tickets, the one lawful product sold to the public ↗

The minimum age on record for gambling in South Carolina is 18+. The minimum age of 18 is for purchasing lottery tickets. Proposed sports betting legislation also suggests a minimum age of 18.

Gambling winnings are taxable income federally and in South Carolina. A person paying out prizes or winnings of $500 or more must withhold South Carolina income tax at the top individual rate, which is 6% on the 2025 schedule; the State lottery must withhold State tax on prizes over $500. Federally, regular withholding of 24% applies where winnings minus the wager exceed $5,000 (it does not apply to bingo, keno or slot machines), and the payer files Form W-2G, whose reporting threshold is $2,000 for payments made in 2026.

No national licence for online gambling exists here, so a site taking deposits from players in South Carolina is not licensed locally, whatever licence it shows from elsewhere.

Prominent operators in South Carolina

• Online gambling: None licensed. No online gambling licence of any kind exists ↗
• Self-exclusion: No register. Neither the Code of Laws nor the Lottery Commission rules provide one ↗

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   1. Lottery and Bingo Complaints

   No online operator is licensed, so there is no operator complaint procedure. A dispute over payment of a State lottery prize is decided by the Executive Director, with appeal to the Lottery Commission. For bingo, the Department of Revenue must publish on its bingo webpage how to file complaints about violations (12-21-4320(A)).

2. 2

   2. Civil Action

   There is no regulator of online gambling to complain to, and none can order repayment to players. The remedy is a private civil action: a person who loses $50 or more may sue the winner within three months to recover it (32-1-10). These sections apply only to gambling not authorised by law (32-1-60).

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  No Licensed Online Gambling

  There is no South Carolina licence for online casinos, sportsbooks or poker. No site can hold one, and no State regulator supervises any of them.

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  Offshore Sites Are Unregulated

  No State regulator supervises offshore sites and there is no State complaint route for players. Whether the older offence statutes reach an online bet on an offshore site is untested: no prosecution or decision was found.

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  No Statewide Self-Exclusion

  South Carolina has no statewide self-exclusion programme. The Code and the Lottery Commission regulations contain none.

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  Skill Machines Are Contested

  The Supreme Court has applied the machine ban in 12-21-2710 to pull-tab and phone-card machines, and the Court of Appeals upheld one magistrate's finding that a machine was a game of skill; neither the dominant-factor nor the pure-chance test has been adopted.

• Myth

  It's legal to bet on offshore websites because the government only goes after the operators.
  Reality

  No South Carolina licence exists for any online operator. The State's older offence statutes do not mention the internet or an offshore site, and no prosecution of a resident for betting with one was found (16-19-40, 16-19-130; 13.05, 14.14). A player who loses $50 or more can sue the winner to recover it under the Statute of Anne, which applies only to gambling not authorised by law (32-1-10, 32-1-60). There is no State regulator to complain to if an offshore site keeps your money.

• Myth

  Sweepstakes casinos and 'skill games' are legal loopholes in South Carolina.
  Reality

  No South Carolina statute, regulation, bill or case addresses online sweepstakes casinos. For machines, 12-21-2710 makes it a misdemeanour to operate any device pertaining to games of chance, and the Supreme Court has applied it to pull-tab and phone-card machines. The Court of Appeals upheld one magistrate's finding that a machine was a game of skill and recorded that neither the dominant-factor nor the pure-chance test has been adopted. Neither is a settled loophole.

What the rules mean for bonus offers you see in South Carolina. The rules operators must follow are on the operator page.