AS THE SENATE considers a halfway measure that might ban some of the casino boats that have taken up residence along South Carolina’s coast, it’s useful to recall how they manipulated the law, the courts and the Legislature to become part of our coastal landscape.

The first of the aptly named cruises to nowhere sailed into South Carolina literally under the cover of darkness, after a friendly ruling from a federal judge. He ruled that boats could take passengers three miles offshore to gamble, since state law did not specifically prohibit that. The public was outraged at having casino gambling foisted upon our state, and legislators vowed to shut down the fledgling industry. But boat owners brought in expensive lawyers to make threats of lawsuits, and the Legislature backed down.

It later turned out that all the federal and state judges who had propped up the industry were merely agreeable, and not right — and state law at the time actually had outlawed the cruises to nowhere. But before that happened, as part of the compromising necessary to convince powerful senators to agree to ban video gambling, the Legislature had made some changes that rendered the casino cruises legal.

In 2001, the state Supreme Court went out of its way to emphasize that the Legislature was free to ban the casino boats if it wanted to. But four years later, they’re still docked along the coast, because the Senate has consistently rejected bills passed by the House that would ban the boats. Several local governments have tried to keep them out, but the boat owners have tied those efforts up in court.

It is against this backdrop that one of the most vocal opponents of the boats, Charleston Sen. Chip Campsen, has offered a bill to authorize local governments to ban casino boats. But there is good reason to believe that the state Supreme Court would overturn such local bans, declaring gambling policy a matter for the state, not local governments.

Mr. Campsen argues that such a ruling is no sure thing, but he acknowledges it’s possible and has included a provision requiring the state to defend local governments against the inevitable lawsuits over their bans. But he says that even with new rules that make it more difficult for a handful of powerful senators to stop legislation, he sees no way he could get a true ban on casino boats through the Senate.

That’s pathetic. If our Legislature isn’t willing to kick out an industry that came into the state surreptitiously, conned the courts into letting it gain a foothold and then manipulated a few powerful legislators into twisting the law to its advantage, then what reason does anyone have to obey our laws? The message lawmakers’ continued acquiescence sends to other undesirables is frightfully clear: Hire enough crafty lawyers and lobbyists, shop around for weak links in the judiciary, endear yourself to the right legislators (note the parallels to video poker, which lawmakers finally did ban), and you too can have your way with our state.

There’s no reason local governments should have to do the state’s job, and fight court battles they are likely to lose. The Senate should ban casino cruises. And if it won’t, the House should try once again to force that action. The integrity of our government is at stake.