South Carolina’s voters will decide the fate of video poker and the lottery. Many State House and Senate members do not support gambling personally, but they do support the rights of the people of the state to decide the issue.

Lexington County’s legislators also support the idea of a referendum, but they differ on their interpretation of what a lottery or video poker means to the people of the state.

Lexington representative Jake Knotts believes people should be allowed to decide what they want to do with their money, but Senator Joe Wilson fears the power of the gambling lobby.

Knotts believes if people want to play video poker, the state should regulate and tax it heavily, and then use that money for good purposes.

Wilson says the state does not need money from those sources, believing that a strong economy, which we have, is all the state needs to meet its needs.

Knotts said people who want to just outlaw gambling are not being consistent.

“The same people who say the government should not be allowed to tell you to wear your seat belt, then turn around and say the government should be able to tell you what to do with your money,’’ Knotts said.

Knotts said he believes some of the arguments against video poker are just a smokescreen.

“People say it victimizes poor people, but if only poor people were playing it then the video poker people would not be making as much as they are. They also say the mafia will get involved. These are just scare tactics,’’ Knotts said.

He added that he had no problem driving by a video poker establishment and saying “thank you for paying my property taxes.’’

Knotts said he does not gamble and does not want to, but he firmly believes in people’s rights to decide for themselves, and if the state can benefit from that he sees no problem.

“If video poker money is sin money, then I can wash it and cleanse it and use it for a good purpose,’’ he said.

Senator Wilson does not see the issue as one of letting people decide what they will do, but one of power.

“My concern is the concentration of power. The gambling industry influenced the governor’s election and they could influence any election,’’ Wilson said.

The senator said he has never seen an industry have so much power in the state.

He said he does not want money from gambling. He said the state has a strong enough economy to the point that it does not need that source of income.

“Government has too much money already. If it gets more it will just be wasted,’’ he said.

Wilson believes property taxes can be eliminated without resorting to using tax money from gambling interests.

“I have moral concerns about the societal effects of gambling,’’ he said.

He said he “disagrees with good people,’’ like Rep. Knotts, about what video poker and the lottery will mean in South Carolina.

He said he does not think regulation is possible, which is what the Senate and House has said it wants to do.

“The courts may overturn our regulations, as they have done already. You can’t enforce payout limits. Its not possible to hire enough people to enforce our regulations,’’ he said.

Wilson said those who want to use the lottery to pay for educaiton, “are pushing a fraud.’’

Both are supporting the referendums. Wilson said he hopes the referendums fail, and Knotts said he had no preference for how he voters decide.

The South Carolina Baptist Association has decided to actively oppose video poker, and hopes to make its opposition felt in the referendum set for November of this year.

Lexington Baptist pastor Rick Fisher is chairman of the state executive board, and he plans to try to help shoot down legalized gambling in the state. Fisher said he would have preferred the legislature ban video poker outright, but he said he believes a referendum is a good thing.

He said he believes the referendum will take some of the politics out of the issue, and that may help people in the state to judge the issue of having legal video poker on its own merits.

Fisher said he believes video poker is a moral issue, and an issue that Christians should be speaking out on, and an issue that he hopes will drive Christians to the ballot box when the referendum is held. In an off-year, there will likely be a low voter turnout, so Baptists are hoping that if they can get their people to turn out to vote, they can have a great impact on the referendum.

Fisher said the problem he has with gambling, is that morally, it creates an unhealthy preoccupation with the pursuit of money.

“Biblically speaking, the pursuit of money to the exclusion of all else is not a good thing. The Bible also says that this obsession with the gain of money is a trap that pulls people down. I see that happening to people who are involved in video poker,” he said.

Fisher said video poker is an moral issue, and he and other members of the state association see it as an issue that the church should speak out about.

“This affects the soul of South Carolina, we are going to mobilize all we can. We believe video poker is a real and present danger,” he said.

The Baptists will be opposing video poker by encouraging church members to be registered to vote, and then encouraging members to get out and vote when referendum is held.

Fisher said he wants Christians to take action on the issue, but he said he would try to do this with a proper attitude.

“We do need to speak out and we need to vote, but we need to do it in love. We need to say what is right, but we must also avoid trying to injure those on the other side of the issue,” he said.

As chairman of the state convention’s executive committee, Fisher has had involvement with several of the state legislators this year. He had hoped they would ban video poker and said he was a little disappointed that they decided to have a referendum instead.

He said he was pleased that some restrictions were placed on the machines, like the maximum daily payouts.

“I was encouraged that we got the cap in place, and with the controls that were passed,” he said.

He said as a minister his organization tried to inject the moral aspect of the issue, and he hopes Baptists from throughout the state will join in the move to ban the poker machines.

“In our church we will educate our members, try to make sure everyone is registered to vote, and encourage everyone