North Carolina lawmakers are slated to introduce online sports betting legislation in the coming days, setting up the potential for another major legalization market.
North Carolina has been one of the most sought-after remaining online sports betting hopefuls since a mobile proposal narrowly fell last year. Retail sportsbooks are permitted at tribal casinos in the state but a statewide mobile market would be far more consequential.
If mobile betting is passed, it would likely make up more than 95% of the state’s total handle.
Speaking to North Carolina media outlets last week, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said he believed the bill would pass. This echoed similar sentiment from Republican supporters of the bill in the GOP-controlled legislature, according to the Raliegh-based News & Observer.
Potential market structure
If passed, North Carolina’s online sports betting market would be similar to neighboring Virginia’s.
Roughly a dozen sportsbooks would likely seek licensure, including market leaders FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM. Caesars, which operates the state’s two retail sportsbooks at tribal casinos in the western part of the state and is opening a resort casino just north of the North Carolina state board in Danville, Virginia, would also be a likely market entrant.
Other Virginia mobile sportsbooks and national brands including BetRivers, PointsBet and Barstool would also likely pursue licensure. The bill could also open the way for up-and-coming brands in the US such as bet365, Fanatics and Betr.
North Carolina is the nation’s ninth-most populated state and home to some of the country’s most high-profile collegiate sports programs, among the factors that would help generate interest from a wide range of sports betting sites.
However, in-state college betting could remain a political sticking point. Proponents argue allowing wagers on popular programs such as the Duke and University of North Carolina men’s basketball teams will be imperative to capturing players from the unregulated market. Opponents have worried legal sports betting could lead to corruption among college athletes, who are technically amateurs and not directly compensated for their athletic participation.
Virginia as well as Illinois, New York and New Jersey are among the legal mobile wagering states that have limits on in-state college betting.
Regional impact
Legal mobile North Carolina sports betting would help fill in one of the regions least amenable to regulated mobile wagering.
Unlike North Carolina’s northern neighbors, the South has been slower to adopt expanded gambling of any kind, including sports betting. Besides Virginia and Tennessee, the rest of the region has more limited wagering options.
Mobile betting in North Carolina could help spark further interest in Georgia, another top-10 population state with popular college sports programs. It will likely have minimal impact on South Carolina, even though it shares the metro area with Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest population center.