While South Carolina might not be the most gambling-friendly state in the union, when it comes to Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS), locals have a lot to get excited about. Read on to discover why so many of South Carolina’s residents compete weekly to lead their fantasy sports teams to victory.

Todd Winkler, Editor at online-gambling.com

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Todd Winkler has been an editor at online-gambling.com for 6 years. His focus is on guides and articles about poker games, blackjack, and DFS. With relatives in New Zealand, he is also well aware of the gambling industry in the country.

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Daily Fantasy in South Carolina

South Carolina is one of a number of states in the United States that offers DFS to its residents legally without having actually passed a law to do so. This is because it has passed a predominance test that gauges how much the outcome of the game is based on skill, and how much of it is based on luck, and the results determined that skilled players were far more likely to succeed than amateurs.

Online Daily Fantasy Sports in South Carolina – Overview

Since major daily fantasy sports operators began to offer their services in the USA around 2013, there has been a lot of conversations revolving around whether it constitutes gambling or not. Because competitors all pay a set entrance fee per competition and stand to lose money based on the outcome of an event, many viewed this as just a new form of gaming and could potentially be detrimental to contestants.

This put DFS in a legal gray area, prompting states to respond with either legislation allowing or outlawing it, to respond by a legal statement from their state Attorney General’s Office or by simply tolerating it and doing little to set up regulations or demands from operators in the state. The latter was the approach taken by South Carolina, which means that for the foreseeable future, DFS is completely open for local competitors to play any league they wish.

As South Carolina begins the conversation around legalizing real-life sports betting, we recommend joining in on the craze that’s sweeping the nation and trying your hand at playing some of these popular fantasy leagues.

Online Daily Fantasy NFL – Making The Carolinas Proud

While the Carolina Panthers play their games in North Carolina, their training grounds are located in South Carolina – giving residents of both Carolinas something to be proud of and a team to favor in the National Football fantasy League. In NFL Fantasy, contestants are to draft 9 NFL stars into their lineup, their choices only limited by a salary cap. Cash prizes are won at the end of every round before contestants are then to choose a brand new lineup. This happens weekly until the end of the season.

Online Daily Fantasy NBA – Build A Team Worth Talking About

While South Carolina doesn’t have any teams representing the state in the National Basketball Association, it hasn’t stopped them from remaining passionate, vocal fans of both the real-life and fantasy leagues. In NBA Fantasy, contestants are asked to draft a lineup of 8 players from at least two different NBA games. Contests are won by having the highest total points scored by your drafted players at the end of the round.

Online Daily Fantasy NHL – More From The North

They may not have a team of their own in the National Hockey League, but their neighboring North Carolina’s Hurricanes team have been close enough to home to earn the admiration of the South’s locals – and preference of Hurricanes players in their NHL Fantasy drafts, of course. In the NHL Fantasy League, contestants draft a lineup of 9 players that need to hail from at least 3 different teams. Points are awarded to players for their goals, assists, blocked shots, etc.

Online Daily Fantasy MLB – Draft Wisely

South Carolina doesn’t have any minor or Major League Baseball teams that call the state home, but this hasn’t seemed to stop residents from playing the MLB Fantasy League. In MLB Fantasy, players build a team of 10 players under a salary cap. The teams must include players that are on that week’s playing roster, have no more than 5 hitters and be playing in at least two different MLB games. Because players values change based on their weekly statistics, it’s important to keep your teams balanced too.

College Football – Tigers or Gamecocks? Choose Both

While they may not have any Major League Sports teams representing the state, college sports continue to be a huge draw in South Carolina – especially college football. The state’s two best teams – the University of South Carolina’s Gamecocks and the Clemson University Tigers – have a long and storied rivalry and both continue to draw in crowds of over 80,000+ spectators.

To choose a favorite would be too difficult – while the Gamecocks have been included in 6 Associated Press Top 25 rankings over the last 20 years, the Tigers are currently one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, having won two of the last 3 national titles and also having the distinguished honor of producing 200 NFL players and 7 College Football Hall of Fame players. For fans who can’t decide on which of the state’s university teams they prefer, the college fantasy sports league offers a great way to build a team from the best of both.

Timeline of Daily Fantasy Sports Legislation

As far as gambling cultures go, South Carolina’s has developed slowly over the years, with the state and its residents often holding a more conservative viewpoint of gaming activities. Much of the opposition to gambling stems from deeply rooted moral concerns, making changes to all gambling laws difficult to navigate. Regardless, we’ve created a timeline below to highlight some of the most important points in South Carolina’s gambling history.

For more information about the state’s practices and laws, visit our dedicated South Carolina gambling page.

Legal Daily Fantasy Betting Age in South Carolina

There are very strict laws regarding gambling age in South Carolina. According to them you must be over 18 years of age to participate in daily fantasy sports betting, or other gambling activities as well. In case you do not comply, you will be punished with hours of community service or a money fee that can go up to 1,000 dollars.

• DFS Betting Age
  Players must be over 18 years old to legally gamble in South Carolina.
• Alcohol Age
  The legal drinking age in South Carolina is 21 years old.
• Weed Age
  Recreational cannabis smoking is illegal in South Carolina.

Is Daily Fantasy Betting Legal Outside of the State?

Daily Fantasy League betting is now legal in most states in the USA. There are only nine states remaining that have officially deemed it illegal for DFS operators to continue remaining active within the state. States that continue to ban DFS include Montana, Hawaii and Arizona. Despite this, the move towards legalization across the country has been so quick that we have no doubt that the numbers will dwindle as other states prove the validity of DFS as a game of skill.

The Best Fantasy Sports App in South Carolina

We assume that you, as most of the gamblers out there, like to use your mobile phone for playing daily fantasy sports. If we are right, then here is a piece of good news – almost all operators have completely mobile-friendly sites and some even launched dedicated apps. And if we have to choose the best among them all, we would vote for DraftKings, for sure.

Taxes on Daily Fantasy Winnings: Legal Overview

The winnings that you generate from gambling are a subject of the federal laws at a rate of 25%. At a state level, you should know that your winnings are classed as income and taxed as such. You must also include them in your annual declaration. For details and assistance, you can refer to the South Carolina Department of Revenue.

Upcoming Regulation Changes to Be Aware Of

Since the first legislation concerning DFS in South Carolina was introduced in 2017, there hasn’t been much action in the state in regard to the matter. For now, most of the focus on the state seems to be on trying to introduce laws to legalize and regulate sports betting. As the rest of the nation introduces sports betting laws and states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania are bringing in millions of dollars in revenue a month from taxing sports bets, the pressure is mounting for other states to take advantage of the wealth that can be generated through legalization.

Despite this, there is a lot of resistance from conservative interest groups who oppose all forms of gambling on moral grounds. As is the way in most Southern States, these conservative values make up a large part of South Carolina’s cultural identity and are tricky to maneuver in legal situations such as this. Nevertheless, with neighboring state North Carolina’s sports betting bill having just recently passed the legislature, this could inspire the South to act quickly or else risk losing millions over the state line.

Regardless, Daily Fantasy Sports looks to be going nowhere anytime soon, and if laws are introduced to do with DFS, it’s more likely that they will be for its taxation and allowance as opposed to outlawing.

Daily Fantasy Guides for Nearby States

• North Carolina
• Georgia
• Tennessee
• Alabama