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Horry County should enter into a decade-long partnership with the casino boat industry that includes collecting a fee, sharing legal protection and increasing gambling operations, a slim majority of Horry County Council decided Tuesday.
In a 6-5 vote, the council gave the nod to a passenger boarding fee agreement that would allow the gambling boats to remain in Little River for 10 years and put about $1.4 million into county coffers annually.
Meanwhile, the owner of a third casino boat is talking about starting up operations in Horry County, alongside Little River's two existing boats, County Attorney John Weaver announced.
The $5 per head fee, which was criticized as illegal by Little River's councilman, must pass another council vote and public comment in two weeks.
The council was preparing for a final vote on a proceeds tax for gambling boats, as allowed under state law. But two council members - Chairwoman Liz Gilland and Councilman Mark Lazarus - hammered out the boarding fee agreement with the casino boat industry last week.
Gilland said the county could either accept the fee or face years of litigation over using the state law to tax or ban the boats. While the court battle dragged on, the boats would continue to operate in Little River without paying any fees.
"I always think it is better to have some money for the county," Gilland said.
The boats bring about 275,000 passengers to Little River each year and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes.
Under the contract, Florida-based SunCruz Casinos and Diamond Casinos will pay Horry County an additional $5 per-passenger fee for five years and then increase the fee to $6 over a second five-year period. In exchange, the county will allow the casino operators to expand the parking area to allow up to 750 passengers per boat, an increase of at least 100 per boat per trip.
If the agreement is challenged in court - the county said it falls outside state law and could be challenged by any party including the state attorney general - the casino industry will pay the county's legal bills.
Little River Councilman Harold Worley showed fellow council members a photo of disgraced federal lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a former owner of SunCruz Casinos, which owns one of the town's gambling boats.
He said the county must operate legally by using state law to regulate a sometimes unruly industry, which he called a "sin business."
The state legislature gave counties the power to either tax or ban the gambling vessels in 2005 and Horry County, which is home to the state's only two floating casinos, has been wrestling with what to do since.
The new law does not explicitly give the county power to amend its laws and create its own contract with the gambling industry. The county asked a Charleston law firm to weigh in and it advised that the agreement could be legal.
Worley disagreed: "The amendment violates state statute."
It's unclear how the agreement would affect new gaming vessels - only SunCruz and newcomer Diamond Casinos are signed on. Horry County staff has said there appears to be no other areas outside Little River where casino boats could operate.
But a new casino boat is now docked at Cricket Cove in Little River and the owner approached the county about opening a gambling cruise, County Attorney John Weaver said. The owner will meet with county staff later this month, he said.
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