Commercial real estate brokers in Myrtle Beach, SC

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Online sports betting in North Carolina becomes legal starting on Monday, just one day before the start of NCAA March Madness kicks off.

For South Carolinians sports betting is still illegal, but there are ways to place bets in North Carolina.

The North Carolina Lottery Commission said there are no restrictions for out-of-state residents who want to place a bet in the state. An individual must be within the state’s border, 21 years old and not prohibited from wagering.

However, South Carolina is a gray state when it comes to daily fantasy sports bets. A federal law passed in 2006 says daily fantasy sports bets are not the same as regular sports bets claiming its more about skill than luck. So, while it’s not illegal to place a daily fantasy sports bet, it is not regulated and taxed by a gaming commission.

This means there is no consumer protection.

Since 2019, multiple bills attempting to make sports betting legal in South Carolina have been proposed in the General Assembly but they have all been rejected.

For North Carolinians, there are currently eight licensed operators that can legally offer and accept sports wagers.

Research from the North Carolina General Assembly estimates that sports betting will generate more than $60 million in taxes the first year and reach $100 million in the fourth year.

There are several ways the state plans to use the tax revenue.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will receive $2 million annually for gambling addiction education and treatment programs. North Carolina Amateur Sports will receive $1 million annually to expand the state’s youth sports opportunities.

Thirteen universities in the state will receive the remaining 20% tax revenue to support their athletic programs. Each school could get a minimum of $300,000 each year.

The athletics director at UNC Pembroke said the timeliness of sports betting becoming legal is a huge blessing. After COVID, the university offered more online classes, but those students do not pay the athletic fee.

“We really, really appreciate the board of governors for doing the economic impact study and working with the Legislature to see how timely this was to be able to marry up a brand new revenue stream and address what was really a critical need for all the athletic departments,” Dick Christy said.

Without sports betting becoming legal, more than just the university’s athletic programs would have continued to struggle, Christy said.

‘If you look at our expense per athlete, and you look at what that student actually brings to Pembroke, North Carolina, the university is more advantaged to have athletics,” he said. “Cutting sports is actually counterintuitive for most of the small schools.”

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Savannah Denton joined News 13 in July 2023 as a reporter and producer. Savannah is from Atlanta, Georgia, and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Follow Savannah on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - Horry County and Myrtle Beach leaders have looked into tornado sirens, but there aren’t any plans in the near future to add sirens.

There are several reasons why tornado sirens have not been set up in Horry County or Myrtle Beach.

THE COST

Thomas Bell with Horry County Emergency Services said from the cost to the potential interference, it would not be beneficial.

“First and foremost they are very expensive systems both to install and to maintain. We would need a large number to cover the expanse of Horry County because we do have the landmass that is larger than the state of Rhode Island, so we’re talking about dozens to if not hundreds of these tornado sirens all around the county,” Bell explained.

Each siren costs about $30,000 and that’s before installation and maintenance.

Bell said operating tornado sirens for the county would cost millions of dollars there’s a chance it may not even work.

IT MAY NOT WORK PROPERLY

“The other thing we have to think about when we talk about tornado sirens, especially with our coastal areas is that we do have some really large buildings that could get in the way of where those sirens are placed and we have dynamic weather. Unlike the Plains, we have the sea breeze so if we’re trying to blast a siren to the folks on the beach, if there’s a strong enough sea breeze they may not even hear over the whipping of the sand and umbrellas flapping things like that,” Bell said.

LEARNING CURVE

“If we did install the sirens would the public, one, know that it is a tornado siren and what to do when they hear it? I know for just myself I didn’t grow up in Tornado Alley, so I did not grow up with tornado sirens. Anytime I hear that sound in a movie I usually think of a nuclear siren or a Godzilla siren not so much of a tornado siren. Ultimately, we have a lower risk compared to the Midwest and the Plains. For us to go and say, ‘Hey we need this new system that ultimately may not work in our best interest for citizens and visitors,’ it just makes sense of saying, ‘Hey have multiple ways to receive alerts. Have your phone with you but just pay attention to what the weather is going to be,’” Bell explained.

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Could Myrtle Beach get a white Christmas this year?

Christmas snow, to most Myrtle Beach area locals, is the stuff of holiday movies. In fact, many northerners, fondly nicknamed “snowbirds,” migrate to the Grand Strand every winter to escape the deep freeze of their home climes. But for those living in the area 33 years ago, 1989 was a Christmas they will never forget.

Horry locals struggled to recover from Hurricane Hugo that year when the entire area was plunged into a deep freeze in late December.

On Dec. 22, The Sun News reported frigid temperatures. Still, it said, “anyone hoping for a white Christmas will probably be disappointed,” citing a regional climatologist who expected warmer temperatures to prevail by the holiday.

Then, that very evening, the snow began to fall - and fall - and fall.

From the evening of Dec. 22 through Dec. 24, the entire area was covered with almost 15 inches of the white stuff. Loris recorded 14.5 inches of snow, Murrells Inlet had 11 inches and the sands of Myrtle Beach were covered in 14 inches of the winter precipitation that would last well through the holiday as temperatures plummeted into the low teens - even single digits inland.

According to the National Weather Service, it was the largest snowstorm in history for the South East coast.

It was a true winter wonderland for area locals. In rural fields, youths hitched homemade sleds, of trash-can lids and old car hoods, to 4-wheelers and slung their buddies across the frozen tundra.

Cars did playful donuts in mall parking lots.

On Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, The Sun News interviewed tourists who used the snow skis they’d brought for a planned trip to the mountains to ski down Ocean Boulevard.

The paper featured a picture of a 27-foot snow sculpture of an elf in Murrells Inlet.

But, according to those same articles, the arctic temperatures, snow, and ice created myriad problems for which The Grand Strand wasn’t prepared. The headlines from that week read: ‘Outages Bring Cold Home,’ ‘Snowstorm puts the breaks on shopping on Grand Strand,’ ‘Frozen water pipes put damper on holiday for some in Horry,’ and ‘Storm brings too much snow.’

Those stories describe people stranded during the holiday as the airport was closed, widespread power outages, and municipal workers missing Christmas with their families as they helped to treat frozen roads and dig stranded motorists from snow drifts.

According to Ed Piotrowski, Chief Meteorologist at WPDE ABC15, “It’s so hard to get it to snow around here that 99 out of 100 times it’s a miss.”

He says the reason the Myrtle Beach area so rarely gets snow is that the area must first have days of below-freezing temperatures combined with a low-pressure system perfectly situated just off the South East coast to draw in enough moisture for snow to fall.

But, “more often than not,” he says, that low pressure develops too close to our coast and draws in the warmer moisture that results in sleet or rain.

Tim Armstrong, meteorologist and climate program leader for The National Weather Service Wilmington, said “Although cold air occurs every winter, climate data from the North Myrtle Beach airport shows an average of only 30 nights a year with freezing temperatures recorded.”

Additionally, our area typically only averages one or two days a year when temperatures fail to climb above freezing and those most often occur in January and February, according to records.

Armstrong agrees the odds of snow are rarely in our favor in Myrtle Beach, “the long-term annual average snowfall is only 0.9 inches per year, however, most years have no measurable snow at all,” he reports.

However, last year the Myrtle Beach area got its first measurable snowfall since 2014 on Jan. 29, 2022 with an inch falling in Conway. The National Weather Service records that event here.

The National Weather Center is not predicting a snow event for the holiday this year because of a warming trend in December.

But, snowfall is still a possibility this winter.

Forecasters say that El Nino conditions have returned and that means a higher than average chance of precipitation through the winter of 2024.

Jordan Baker, a NWS meteorologist in Wilmington, says “there are some chances for chilly days and with the expected rainfall, if things, match up we could get snow.”

Those perfect snowstorm conditions that we had in 1989 are just not expected to line up in December this year.

But as 1989 proved, forecasters don’t know everything.

When Liberty Tax first opened in North Myrtle Beach, “Hey Ya” by Outkast was at the top of the Billboard and everyone had a MySpace account.

A lot has changed since then, but the North Myrtle Beach Liberty Tax branch is still in the family.

It was opened by Marty and Terry Slapnik, and later purchased by their daughter Tami Lee in 2015.

Lee, who graduated from Conway High School and College of Charleston, took a job as a JC Penny store manager after college. Lee said it was a transient job in a struggling industry and she worked at 10 different stores in 20 years around the southeast from Washington D.C. to Raleigh, Charlotte and West Virginia.

“I moved around a lot, and the ultimate goal was getting back home,” Lee said. “The last thing that convinced me I needed a change was working Thanksgiving Day. I remember driving in and thinking this is going to be my last time doing this. I called my dad and told him I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Her dad, Marty, said that they were looking to cut down their workload and asked if she would be interested in buying the business.

She did, and her parents still work part-time.

Lee’s mother, Terry, works the front desk and her father comes in about once a week during tax season.

Lee said working with her parents has helped her learn more about them.

The business has been successful with many return customers including “a ton” who have returned each year since originally filing in 2004.

Lee said the branch leads the state in annual tax returns filed and revenue earned among Liberty Tax locations. The massive growth the area has experienced hasn’t hurt, Lee said.

The business has morphed with the changing industry.

Lee bought the business shortly after Affordable Care Act participation became mandatory, intertwining the insurance and healthcare industries. So, Lee decided to found Gator Hole Insurance, named after Gator Hole Plaza where Liberty Tax has been since the plaza opened in 2007.

Gator Hole Insurance offers health insurance year round and has grown, now with a full-time insurance agent on staff.

On April 1, a 20th anniversary celebration and ribbon cutting will be held at Liberty Tax starting at noon. Destination North Myrtle Beach, the Little River Chamber of Commerce and North Myrtle Beach cit leaders will be on hand and lunch will be provided by Mission BBQ.

Planning a Myrtle Beach family vacation? Myrtle Beach is a clear favorite, and it is easy to see why. As one of the most popular beaches for vacationing in SC, Myrtle Beach offers top-notch hotels and resorts along with tons of family-friendly activities along the Grand Strand. So we’ve gathered up reviews and coverage from Kidding Around into one convenient guide! Our guide includes places to stay, where to dine, fun activities, and more to help you create the perfect vacation.

There are lots of other great places for family vacations! We’ve rounded up some of our favorite travel spots with all the best things to do and see while you’re there in this Ultimate Travel Guide!

Planning a Trip to the Coast of SC: Myrtle Beach

At just about four hours from the Upstate, the sun and fun of Myrtle Beach is a popular destination for residents of the Upstate and SC. Myrtle Beach was designed with vacationers in mind, with hotels, resorts, and motels to fit any budget. There are plenty of places to stay, which helps keep the rates low and affordable for families. Aside from fun on the beach, there are unique and awesome attractions to keep families entertained. Everything from dinner shows to museums, amusement parks, water sports, shopping, and even an aquarium! There are also 90 golf courses and 50 mini golf courses to play at, making Myrtle Beach a top vacation destination for golf lovers.

Let Kidding Around be your guide to planning the perfect trip to Myrtle Beach for your family! We know where to find all of the cool stuff because we’ve gone and checked it out ourselves!

Where To Stay in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

As one of the most accommodating beaches in SC, Myrtle Beach has approximately 425 hotels to choose from! You’ll never have a hard time finding an oceanfront room, or a resort with all of the amenities you desire. Finding the best of the best is what we aim to do, so below are some recommendations for spots we’ve stayed in ourselves, along with additional places to stay along the Grand Strand.

This article contains Stay22 affiliate links.

If you are looking for a less commercial beach vacation experience in SC, Myrtle Beach probably isn’t it. However, North Myrtle Beach is just a few miles north of the hustle and bustle of central Myrtle Beach. You will find less nightlife, quieter beaches, and more rental homes and condos here.

Some of the top-rated resorts in North Myrtle Beach include the expansive Club Wyndham Ocean Front Resort. This resort offers five pools, fully equipped kitchens, and is just a few miles from Barefoot Landing for exceptional shopping and dining. There is also the highly-rated Avista Resort. This family-friendly resort in North Myrtle Beach offers two outdoor pools, a lazy river, is oceanfront, and is close to golf courses.

Where To Eat in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Nothing works up an appetite quite like a day spent on the beach, and Myrtle Beach is the place to be! From seafood freshly caught off the dock and live music on the pier to romantic dinners for two, we’ve got some delicious spots to recommend that we have tried ourselves that are affordable and worth a visit.

Things To Do Indoors in Myrtle Beach, SC

What To Do Outdoors in Myrtle Beach

When you head to the beach for some fun, fitting in a few extra activities is one of the most exciting things to plan. There’s certainly no shortage of them in Myrtle Beach! Here are some of the ones Kidding Around team members have enjoyed!