Charleston Sportsbooks

As the biggest combined metropolitan area in the Palmetto State, Charleston is home to more than 700,000 people, and many thousands of those are without a doubt dedicated sports fans and, as we know, the majority of serious fans are known to place wagers on those sports from time to time. However, the shocking lack of any Charleston sportsbooks should not come off as much of a surprise considering the bigger conundrum: in a state with as much need for increased tax revenues as South Carolina, there seems precious little political will to make sportsbooks in Charleston a reality. Even after the US Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in favor of New Jersey’s crusade to have the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) overturned, the Palmetto State’s stalwartly conservative political class seems unwilling to expand its definitions of legalized gambling, much less to legalize sports wagering.

All that is to say that the state of South Carolina is almost entirely without any gambling outlets whatsoever, from conventional land-based casino properties to sportsbooks in Charleston and elsewhere in the Palmetto State. This state of affairs has led to the somewhat interesting but by no means unique situation in which the only ways to legally wager on sports – and really much of anything else for that matter – in South Carolina is to do so via outlets that exist or otherwise do business in locations outside the state lines.

In the case of sports betting, the only Charleston sportsbooks by default are the industry’s leading legal offshore sports betting websites Bovada, BetOnline, BetDSI, SportsBetting, and MyBookie, which have already been serving as the sole means of sports betting for South Carolina residents for the better part of two decades as is. As for casinos that could, presumably, one day operate as Charleston sportsbooks, the Palmetto state has but few, and all are of the casino cruise ship variety which has to first leave state waters and head into international jurisdictions before allowing customers to make wagers, and even then they are not permitted to bet on sporting events.

Our guide covering Charleston sportsbooks, the casinos that could one day become sportsbooks in Charleston and in surrounding areas and the current and possible future legal situation facing sports wagering, in general, will aim to answer these pressing questions to the extent that we are able to deduce. We did all the legwork for you, so that if you decide you want to place wagers on your favorite teams, players and events in the Palmetto State, you can do so with the utmost confidence at the best sportsbooks in Charleston, even if the way you will actually have to do it means you won’t be betting in Charleston at all.

Best South Carolina Sports Betting Sites - 100% Trusted + Safe

Is Sports Betting Currently Legal In Charleston?

Right now, there are no state regulated sportsbooks in Charleston and in all of South Carolina. This is because lawmakers have yet legalized and regulated sports betting in the state. The reason for this is because of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). PASPA prevented lawmakers from expanding on sports betting around the country and sportsbooks could not open while this federal law was in place. PASPA was overturned back in mid-2018 and now the states can freely legalize sports betting if lawmakers are willing to do so. Although South Carolina is a very conservative state in southern America, the state lawmakers are warming up to the idea.

There are multiple bills being considered in South Carolina that will legalize sports betting in one way or another. If these sports betting legislation pass, then sportsbooks will be able to open in the state and residents can freely bet on the Panthers or Clemson. Although all of this makes it sound like it is illegal to wager on sports before that happens, that isn’t true. South Carolina laws do not have any restrictions against placing your bets online. Because of this, Charleston residents have been relying on online offshore sportsbooks for decades. Sites like Bovada, BetDSI, MyBookie, and SportsBetting all operate legally within their countries and they are allowed to take bets from those who live in Charleston. These online offshore websites are 100% legal, so yes, sports betting is technically legal in Charleston.

Minimum Legal Betting Age At Charleston Sportsbooks

Although it is definitely true that there are no legal sports betting outlets in the state of South Carolina – and there might never be, if we are being completely honest with you, considering the state’s longstanding stance that runs counter to any gambling expansion – we can still make a pretty accurate assumption about the minimum legal betting age at Charleston sportsbooks. How so? Well, take for starters that following the overturning of PASPA by the highest court in the land, numerous states around the country made moves to or have already passed laws to legalize sports betting and made efforts to regulate sportsbooks within their jurisdictions. In almost every case that we have come across in our extensive research on this subject, we have only found one instance (that being Rhode Island) that does not adhere to the time tested “21 and up” rule for sports betting participation, and we see no reason why the Palmetto State would buck that trend when and if it ever legalized sports wagering.

It is worth pointing out, however, that the legal offshore sportsbook sites – the best in the biz being leaders like Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, BetDSI, and MyBookie – go by their own rules (or, more accurately, the rules laid out by their own countries’ gaming regulatory authorities) and allow players to be 18 years old and up. Nevertheless, we do not recommend that any of our dedicated readers here at Sports Betting South Carolina take these sites, reputable as they may be, up on that offer. There is simply too much of a risk involved, and now that sports betting has a better chance than ever before of becoming legal in your state, we do not advise you to push the envelope any more than you absolutely have to in order to get in on the action. Just wait until you are 21 years of age, no matter where or how you bet and you will never run into trouble with the law.

Teams to bet on in South Carolina

How to bet on the Clemson Tigers
How to bet on the Carolina Panthers
How to bet on the South Carolina Gamecocks
How to bet on The Citadel

Best Sportsbooks In Charleston

In case you somehow missed it at some point along the way in our comprehensive guide to the best sportsbooks in Charleston (and really everywhere else in the Palmetto State too), here is the dish: you will not be able to find any of them within the state lines at all. In fact, all the locals’ favorite sportsbooks in Charleston are no more local than the dark side of the moon (well, maybe they are a little more local than that, being based in Europe and the Caribbean and not outer space, but you catch our drift).

The online gambling industry’s top operators – and we tend to think that our experience unequivocally recommends Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, BetDSI and MyBookie as its prime exemplars – all services and have all served the South Carolina marketplace with sports betting outlets for going on two decades in some cases. And, given the current and likely future state of sports wagering in the Palmetto State with its current crop of lawmakers, our most highly recommended sites will probably remain the sole outlets for legal sports betting for South Carolina residents for years to come.

However, the possibility does at least exist for a sea change vis a vis the state’s policy on sports betting in South Carolina, and – if that day should ever come – the Palmetto State’s only two real casinos are both of the seagoing variety as it is. The Big M Casino and its partner, the SunCruz Aquasino business both operate out of rivers near the South Carolina coastline and in fact travel into international waters before allowing their passengers to actually place wagers. Though it does not seem perhaps as much fun as hitting a land-based casino when examined from the surface level only, the cruise aspect of these two waterborne casinos could theoretically provide a crucial advantage in the admittedly somewhat blasé fight to secure sportsbooks in Charleston. Because all the gambling aboard these ships happens in international waters, they could technically already be implementing sports betting operations and may yet do so.