Casino Gambling Boats

There are two Las Vegas style casino gambling boats in the Myrtle Beach area, docked at the historic waterfront in Little River, a quaint, unincorporated village on the northern end of the Grand Strand.

The boats take their passengers on infamous "cruises to nowhere" a few miles off the coast, into international waters, outside the USA jurisdiction, where it's legal to gamble.

Since their arrival in the late 1990s, the casino gambling boats have been steeped in controversy, and bills threatening to ban operations failed to pass the South Carolina legislature, and the boats continue operating legally.

Many vacationers have found the gambling trips to be a fun excursion on their travels to the Myrtle Beach area.

And locals enjoy the casino boats, too!

The Southern Elegance casino gambling boat was replaced by the Diamond Girl Two, which was more recently replaced by an even more beautiful vessel, the Big M Gambling Boat (pictured above returning to port), owned by Diamond Management, a Myrtle Beach company.

Another gambling boat that no longer sails out of Little River is the Aquasino, which relocated from South Beach, Florida. She ran her local maiden voyage on May 14, 2010. This boat replaced the SunCruz casino boat when the company filed for bankruptcy in late 2009.

Pictured at right is the arrival of Aquasino during its trip from the Miami area, and its first entrance to her temporary home via Little River Inlet.

The Stardancer Casino Boat, one of the first three boats to operate in South Carolina, closed operations several years ago.

The Big M Casino boats operating on the historic Little River waterfront have grown in popularity over the years, and the legislative battles to remove the boats are long over.