North Carolina Online Sports Betting is Authorized Ahead of the ACC Men's Basketball
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On January 24, the North Carolina State Lottery Commission unanimously agreed to introduce legal North Carolina sports betting starting March 11, coinciding with the eve of the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament. This follows the enactment of House Bill 347, known as Sports Wagering, which Governor Roy Cooper signed last June. The law allows those 21 and older to place online bets on professional, collegiate, amateur sports and horse racing.
This development is part of a broader shift following the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, which overturned a federal ban on sports betting in most states, leading over two dozen states to authorize sports gambling. North Carolina joins as the 30th state to permit online sports betting.
Currently, in-person betting is limited to three casinos on Cherokee and Catawba tribal lands. With the new legislation, as many as 12 online sportsbooks, including offerings from the Cherokee and Catawba nations, could soon be operational.
Tax Revenues Projected for North Carolina.
Christopher Mclaughlin, a professor at the UNC School of Government, acknowledged the significance of the new sports betting legislation as a potential new source of income for the state.
Mclaughlin pointed out that one of the justifications for the legislation was the gambling tax revenue observed in Virginia and Tennessee. These neighboring states to North Carolina have already legalized online sports betting.
“The numbers are many, many billions,” Mclaughlin said. “If you look simply at Virginia, a state that is a little smaller but roughly similar in size to North Carolina, there were over $5 billion of bets legally placed in Virginia in 2023.”
The Fiscal Research Division of the N.C. General Assembly predicts that the state will see a revenue boost of approximately $64.6 million in the first year following the enactment of the law.
North Carolina has significantly increased its investment in the Problem Gambling Program, tripling the budget already. Plus, there's an extra $2 million on the way, thanks to the state's sports betting tax.
This boost comes from an 18% tax on the revenue from sports betting. And guess what? The state is looking forward to making a whopping $40-45 million every year from legal betting in North Carolina. Isn't that something?
When sports betting kicks off in North Carolina on March 11, players can look forward to a host of exciting promotional offers. North Carolina sportsbook promos are expected to feature insured bets and deposit match bonuses akin to the ones Caesars, BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel offer in different states.
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