South Carolina Coalition Suing Dave & Buster’s for Breaking Gambling Laws

^{Dave and Buster's is being accused of violating gambling laws in South Carolina by a coalition of local businesses. (Photo: Jamie Pham / Alamy)}

A group of business owners in South Carolina is suing the popular arcade and restaurant chain Dave & Buster’s for allegedly violating state gambling laws at its Greenville and Myrtle Beach locations.

According to the lawsuit, because Dave & Buster’s allows award tickets to be redeemed for prizes, the machines that issue those tickets are illegal under state law.

Group Seeks Equal Enforcement of Restaurant, Bar Games

The lawsuit was filed by a group known as SC Citizens For Equal Enforcement of Gambling Laws, LLC, on April 15. That group was first registered with the state in March 2026.

In the lawsuit, the group is seeking a judgment that would require Dave & Buster’s to refund customers who lost money while playing redemption machines. But as the name of the plaintiff suggests, this lawsuit is more about seeking equal treatment under the law for skill games rather than an effort to define arcade gaming as gambling.

The group notes that state law bans games in which money can be deposited to win either money or something of greater value than what was put in, regardless of whether the outcome is determined by skill or chance. The lawsuit also cites court cases holding that wagering something of value on the outcome determines whether an activity is considered gambling. 

Attorney James M. Griffin, the registered agent for SC Citizens For Equal Enforcement of Gambling Laws, told 7NEWS that South Carolina business owners created a coalition to raise awareness about the "unequal enforcement of gambling laws" against local restaurants and bars like Dave & Buster's.

“[The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division], and other law enforcement agencies, have seized video games, revoked beer and wine licenses, and have threatened criminal cases against local businesses for operating video games like the ones at the Dave & Buster’s locations in South Carolina," Griffin said in a statement.

SC Appeals Court: Skill-Based Games are Still Gambling

Last year, the South Carolina Court of Appeals found unanimously that “Dragon’s Ascent,” a skill game in which players shoot at dragons in order to win prizes, was illegal under state law despite the skill elements of the machine.

The case began when a Dragon’s Ascent machine was seized by law enforcement from a restaurant in Hanahan, South Carolina. While a lower court said the machine was legal based on skill being the predominant determinant in players’ results, the three-judge panel at the Court of Appeals leaned on a 2012 South Carolina Supreme Court decision defining gambling as betting money on any game’s outcome, without regard to luck or skill.

“The statute does not narrowly prohibit only the listed games and games of chance, but instead includes in its prohibitions any licensed device used for gambling,” Judge David Hewitt wrote in the decision.

According to Attorney Griffin, however, a fairly strict interpretation of that ruling would also include games like those at Dave & Buster’s.

“Despite numerous efforts, the State Legislature has not enacted any statutes that legalize redemption video games and recent court decisions have ruled that even skill-based video games are illegal to operate if a player is able to win something of value on the outcome,” Griffin wrote. “This uncertain legal landscape allows SLED and other agencies to unfairly and selectively enforce these gambling laws.”

This isn’t the first time that Dave & Buster’s has caught heat for allegedly skirting the line between arcade play and gambling. In 2024, the chain announced a plan to allow friendly peer-to-peer wagering between players on their skill games via Lucra Sports, a partnership that quickly drew the ire of gaming regulators in states like Illinois.