Games of chance in church a winner with Senate panel

You can't legally get together with your buddies for poker night, but you could bet on a game of Texas Hold 'em at church under a bill approved by a state Senate panel.

The bill would exempt churches and other nonprofit groups from a 200-year-old law that prohibits dice and card games. Five-card draw, seven-card stud and Texas Hold 'em are specifically mentioned in the bill that would allow the games to raise money for charity.

"If it raises money for a charitable cause, then I don't have a problem with it at all," said Sen. Paul Campbell, R-Goose Creek, who serves on the subcommittee that gave the bill a favorable report Thursday. Campbell said none of the members spoke against the proposal.

The law that currently bans the games is rarely enforced, but it has stopped plans for several charitable gambling events in the Charleston area in recent years.

Last year, radio station WTMA-AM's Holy City Charity at the Charleston Area

Convention Center was canceled after the State Law Enforce- ment Division said the poker challenge could jeopardize the convention center's liquor license and trigger criminal gambling charges.

In 2005, the Folly Beach Fine Arts Center, the St. Andrews Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Charleston were forced to drop their casino night fundraisers after similar cautions from the state.

For some organizations, a bill that makes the games legal might be too late.

"This is an interesting proposal being considered by the Senate, and certainly some organizations will take advantage of it," said Andy Brack, president-elect of the Rotary Club of Charleston. "But we've moved on to our Rotary Wheels (silent auction) event in May, which raised more than $70,000 last year. We're very pleased."

Some pastors said they would not consider poker games in the church, even if they were legal.

"I am totally against it. That is not the biblical way of providing for a ministry," said the Rev. Stephen Singleton, pastor of Emanuel AME Church on Calhoun Street in Charleston.

"Under no circumstances do I have a problem with the church soliciting funds, but when we go to games of chance, we become a casino," Singleton said.

Pastor Leonard Griffin of Morris Street Baptist Church in Charleston said, "I saw the news, and it shocked me to think that games of chance would be allowed at the church. That's not something we endorse."

The bill is set for further discussion during the next full Judiciary Committee meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 26.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Reach Nadine Parks at 937-5573 or nparks@postand courier.com.