Casino News from http://www.thestate.com/
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The three men who want to take on Gov. Mark Sanford in the November election met in a statewide televised debate Sunday night.
While Columbia lawyer Dennis Aughtry, state Sen. Tommy Moore of Clearwater and Florence Mayor Frank Willis have long agreed on top policy and political objectives, key differences showed in specifics about how they would accomplish what they want.
For instance, Aughtry separated himself from Moore and Willis with his support for high-stakes gaming like the casinos that dot the Mississippi coastline.
"It's a shocking issue, people don't want to hear about," Aughtry said. But like Mississippi, he said, South Carolina can build casinos and collect the billions of dollars a year in revenue from gambling businesses. "That money should be coming to us to pay teachers more, to pay law enforcement more, to better our state."
Moore questioned the reliability of gambling money whether it comes from casinos, a state-run lottery or bingo games. "You're not creating new money," Moore said. "You're shifting money around."
Willis questioned whether high-stakes gambling would be allowed by residents in a predominantly religious, conservative state.
"South Carolinians will not approve of high-stakes gambling," Willis said. "I don't want to be Las Vegas of the East."
Sunday's debate was the only scheduled statewide televised debate for the three candidates before the primary.
For Democrats watching the debate, this is the only statewide contest they'll have to vote on in the June 13 primary. In all the other statewide ballot races, Democrats have fielded a single candidate, except for in the attorney general's race, where Republican incumbent Henry McMaster is unopposed.
South Carolina ETV scheduled a debate between Sanford and primary opponent Oscar Lovelace for Wednesday, but Sanford has said it is unlikely he will take part because debating Lovelace ranks low on his list of priorities and people already know where he stands on issues.
Moore and Willis have begun spending heavily on television ads to gain visibility. Moore has raised $1.1 million for the primary, including $114,360 during since April 1 and spent $200,000 for media. Willis has borrowed $1 million for the Democratic primary and spent $200,000 on advertising and promotion during the past couple of weeks.
Sanford has raised more than $6 million and has spent $776,192 on media during the past month or so.
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