Personal Injury Attorney in Santee, SC.

SANTEE, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina could be getting its first and only casino in the small town of Santee in Orangeburg County.

Santee Development Corporation’s impact study shows it could bring an economic boom to the small, underdeveloped community.

Santee Development Corporation estimates the development of the casino and resort to bring over 4 million annual visitors from in and out of state. Mega donor Wallace Cheves plans to fund the project off of I-95.

Right now, abandoned buildings that used to be a part of the Santee Outlet Mall in Orangeburg County are where the development would go. They have been sitting for more than a decade.

A recent economic development study shows that the investment in the Santee area would support the underdeveloped Orangeburg community. The study found it would generate over $75 million in annual tax revenue according to Santee Development Corporation. The same study says it would create a total of 4,618 jobs in the state annually.

College of Charleston Professor of Economics Frank Hefner says with a town that small he thinks they’d need to bring in others from outside the community for some of those jobs.

“In that community of that size, where are the people going to come from? And that again could change the dynamics of the community, but that’s true for every community. Growth changes things in a community and that’s going to happen. To a large extent, that corridor has been left behind on economic growth for quite some time and so they need it,” Hefner said.

“In addition to the $1 billion construction cost, independent economic projections estimate an $8 billion impact on South Carolina’s economy within the first 10 years, creating thousands of good-paying jobs, driving tourism and expanding business opportunities for local communities,” Cheves said in a statement.

The Santee Development Corporation said not a dime of public money would be used. There are not any state or county incentives and it would all be privately funded.

In order to make this happen, the group is working with legislators to get a bill passed to amend the South Carolina Code of Laws. Representative Chris Murphy is the lead sponsor. It aims to establish the ‘South Carolina Gaming Commission’ to award casino licenses in certain counties.

If you want to take a closer look at that bill, click here.

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A new bill could make Orangeburg County the first in South Carolina to have a casino.

SANTEE, S.C. — A new bill introduced at the South Carolina State House Thursday could make Orangeburg County the first place in South Carolina to have a casino.

The I-95 Economic and Education Stimulus Act bill was presented to the South Carolina House Ways and Means Committee. It would grant casino licenses to certain counties categorized as Tier 4, which could benefit Orangeburg County.

"I-95 is one of the places along I-95 considered in the poverty belt for some counties, and so any economic development would be looked at favorably because of the fact that it would boost tourism and infrastructure as well as housing in that area," Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young said.

One possible site for the casino is the former Santee Outlet Mall. The Santee Development Corporation, which purchased the abandoned mall, plans to transform the property into a casino and resort. The development would include a hotel, spa, restaurant, and retail spaces, and the developers estimate it would create 4,618 new jobs and generate over $58 million in annual tax revenue.

The Santee Development Corporation sees the project as a chance to transform the area.

"It’s time to stop kicking the same can down the road and take a new approach—to think differently and with an open mind," the corporation said in a statement to News19. "There’s a tangible, transformative and life-changing opportunity for one such area, Orangeburg County, and along the I-95 corridor staring us in the face, without one dime of taxpayer risk."

Jane Powell, with the Santee Cooper Country Tourism Center, highlighted the need for more accommodations on the county's eastern side.

"I think it was 88 boats on the lake this weekend for a tournament. Some of those guys come to town," Powell said. "They stay here in Santee, then you've got, today is Friday, you've got people that are traveling on spring break that are going from north to the south, south to north to see Grandma, they stop off here because we're a halfway point. The hotels fill up, the next morning, you know, a new crowd comes in."

"Our people, schools and businesses will benefit dramatically as people traveling on I-95 will no longer pass us by but make us a destination place to visit and spend their money," Senator Brad Hutto, a co-sponsor of the bill, said. "I am just as confident that a privately owned resort casino owned by South Carolinians, properly governed with safeguards in place, will transform our county and region into an economic engine we can all be proud of."

For the casino to move forward, the South Carolina General Assembly must pass the legislation, and the governor must sign it into law.

The developer is scheduled to meet with the mayor of Vance on Monday to discuss the project.