South Carolina Charitable Raffle and Bingo Law

South Carolina bans gambling outright and carves out three narrow exceptions, two of which are charitable raffles and bingo. C. Code § 33-57-100 states that a lottery or raffle of any type is unlawful unless authorized by the Education Lottery, Charitable Bingo under Article 24, Chapter 21, Title 12, or the Nonprofit Raffles for Charitable Purposes chapter. Raffle authority exists only because voters ratified a 2014 amendment to Article XVII, Section 7 of the state constitution; the enabling law, 2013 Act No. 11, did not take effect until April 4, 2015.

Only 501(c)(3), (c)(4), (c)(6), (c)(7), (c)(8), (c)(10), (c)(19), or (d) nonprofits, or a qualifying educational institution, may run one. Section 33-57-120 requires most of them to file an annual raffle registration with the Secretary of State and pay a $50 fee covering every raffle for that fiscal year; the registration expires on the 15th day of the fifth month after the organization's fiscal year ends. Filing is not required if total prizes do not exceed $950, or for a 50/50 raffle capped at $950 in proceeds sold only to members and guests, but even exempt groups cannot run more than one raffle every seven calendar days.

Casino nights, Las Vegas nights, and Monte Carlo nights with live roulette, blackjack, poker, baccarat, or dice are banned unless no prizes or rewards are awarded. C. , requires a Department of Revenue license in one of six classes, from Class AA at $4,000 with sessions capped at $250,000 in prizes once a month, down to Class F at $100 for volunteer-run games capped at $4,000 a session. The department keeps four to ten cents of every dollar of card face value depending on class and returns 28% of that to the sponsoring charity. , capped at twelve hours.

Running an unregistered raffle is conducting an illegal lottery: a first offense under Section 33-57-170(A) draws up to $1,000 and one year in jail; a second offense is a felony, up to $10,000 and five years. Defrauding participants for personal gain is a separate misdemeanor. Convicted officers are barred from registering another raffle for five years, and proceeds must be disgorged to the Secretary of State. Bingo violations draw up to a $5,000 penalty per day plus license revocation under Section 12-21-4140.