Sunday, July 15, 2007


Jul. 15, 2007 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
Just across the Little Pee Dee River from relatively prosperous Horry County lies impoverished Marion County. There, residents suffer double-digit unemployment thanks to the decline of tobacco growing and manufacturing. The county needs and deserves some force or facility that generates jobs and economic activity. So it's hard to fault county leaders wanting to convert the Carolina Entertainment Complex into the Catawba Indian Tribe's second S.C. bingo casino. The project, supporters say, would generate economic activity for the county and jobs for many residents.

We've heard this before. The county-financed complex opened in 2001 as an outdoor-music venue. The hope back then was that the facility operator would book big-name acts into the complex and that tourist hordes would flock across the Horry County line to attend.

It never quite panned out. The complex has had only a few shows and its promoter ended up in jail on mail fraud charges.

This time around, county officials and the complex's current operator envision adding a casino, RV park, equestrian arena, hotel and an active-adult residential community to the existing 27,000-seat amphitheater. Moreover, the Catawbas have experience operating a bingo hall successfully. Their complex in Rock Hill has been in continuous operation since 1996.

Better still, a 1993 land agreement with the state allowed the Catawbas, the only federally recognized S.C. tribe, to open a second bingo facility somewhere in the state. If investors can be found, public approvals would be relatively simple: County Council and the S.C. Department of Revenue would have to agree to it.

Readers will recall that the tribe's first attempt at opening the facility centered on North Myrtle Beach, but city officials put the kibosh on that idea. More recently, the tribe has tried to build a facility off Interstate 95 in Orangeburg, but that plan never came together.

The complex, on U.S. 501 just south of Marion, could be the ideal site for the tribe's second bingo casino. There seems little doubt that a gambling facility would readily attract patrons. Many residents and visitors alike love gambling. And the facility's only competition in the region would be the Little River casino boats, which focus primarily on slot machines and table games. That might make the proposal attractive to investors and developers.

Indeed, the complex conversion seems a natural -- until you consider that the Catawba project could exert an impact on Horry County, too, if it comes fruition. Tourist dollars would flow out of the county. Traffic would increase on U.S. 501 and S.C. 22. And the towns along the way, especially Aynor and Galivants Ferry would become even more congested during tourism season. As well, an expansion of gambling locally would exert a social impact locally -- more problems with gambling addiction, especially.

None of this is to begrudge Marion County this opportunity for economic revival, especially considering that economic growth anywhere in northeastern South Carolina benefits the entire region. But the hope must be that as its County Council moves this project toward final approval, members work across the region to assess and deal with the project's many impacts.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0119-18142218


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