After several years on the sideline, North Carolina became the 30th state -- in addition to Washington, D.C. -- to offer legal online sports betting Monday. The basketball-wild jurisdiction gets its online sports betting infrastructure up and running just in time for March Madness.
The Tar Heel State spent the first few years following the fall of PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992) watching other states legalize sports betting and went through numerous iterations of its sports betting law. That is, until June, when Gov. Roy Cooper signed HB 347 into law, which specifies that up to 12 interactive sports wagering licenses can be granted in the state.
Following the application process for the country's major sportsbook operators -- who all paid a $1 million licensing fee -- eight will go live for the start of online sports betting in North Carolina. The law dictates that all operators must partner with an existing North Carolina sports team, venue and/or Native American tribe and must make efforts to offer in-person betting with their partners.
The eight operators and their partners are as follows:
• Bet365 / Charlotte Hornets
• BetMGM / Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Caesars / Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
• DraftKings / NASCAR
• ESPN BET / Quail Hollow Club (PGA Tour)
• Fanatics Sportsbook / Carolina Hurricanes
• FanDuel / Carolina Panthers and PGA Tour
• Underdog / Sedgefield Country Club (PGA Tour)
Through its partnership with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Caesars was able to offer online sports wagering on March 1, though only within the borders of tribal land. All of the other sportsbooks were permitted to begin pre-registering customers on March 1 as well.
While some states feature restrictions on college sports betting -- such as bettors not being allowed to wager on in-state teams -- North Carolina has no such restrictions.
The sports betting industry continues to boom, with the nation's sportsbooks scoring a record $10.92 billion in revenue in 2023. North Carolina will surely contribute to another record year in 2024 and reap the financial benefits itself.
"We were kind of aware that they were going to legalize; it was just a matter of when," Dr. Michelle L. Malkin, founder and director of the Gambling Research and Policy Initiative at East Carolina University, told ESPN. "North Carolina tends to be a state that's a little more cautious around gambling... I think they were taking a backseat to see what was happening in the other states. Was it successful? What kind of tax dollars were being earned? Et cetera."
Dr. Malkin added that the potential tax revenue -- $14.4 billion at the state and local levels nationwide in 2023 -- was likely enticing to state lawmakers.
Despite the sports betting industry's dominant growth over the past few years, it's possible that North Carolina will be the only state to take the practice online in 2024. No other states have legalized online sports betting since North Carolina did, and only a handful have any kind of momentum in their legislatures.