WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with South Carolina's scheduled July 1 ban of video gambling, a $2.8-billion-a-year industry in that state.
The justices, without comment, rejected an appeal that challenged the way the ban was approved last year.The appeal had been filed by Joytime Distributors & Amusement Co., a Greenville-based corporation that owns 164 video gambling machines in several counties.
The South Carolina General Assembly last summer passed a law intended to ban video gambling unless a majority of voters in a November referendum approved continued payouts from the machines.
The South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the referendum, ruling that the General Assembly had violated the state constitution by delegating its decision-making power. But the state's highest court upheld other parts of the law, effectively ending video gambling as of July 1.
After unsuccessfully seeking the state court's reconsideration, lawyers for Joytime filed the appeal acted on Monday.
"The court below infringed fundamental First Amendment freedoms of the South Carolina electorate by first enjoining the referendum on video gaming and then itself deciding that such gaming should be outlawed," the appeal contended.
The amendment protects freedom of speech and the right to petition the government.
The state court wrongly views voters "no differently from an administrative agency," and therefore "submission of a legislative matter to referendum is forbidden," the appeal added.
State Attorney General Charlie Condon urged the justices to reject Joytime's appeal, noting that the First Amendment argument never was raised when the case was before the state Supreme Court.
The state's lawyers also argued that no First Amendment violation occurred.
The case is Joytime Distributors vs. South Carolina, 99-1406.