North Carolina legalizes mobile sports betting
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"NC Competes sports wagering" sign on the video boards at Spectrum Center in Uptown. Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
Gov. Roy Cooper signed House Bill 347: Sports Wagering/Horse Racing Wagering into law Wednesday morning at Spectrum Center, making North Carolina the latest state to legalize mobile sports betting.
Why it matters: The new law lets you place sports bets outside of casinos at certain facilities statewide. It also allows betting from mobile devices.
Details: You can bet on professional, college, electronic and Olympic sports and horse racing, WRAL reported. Eight facilities in North Carolina will be allowed to operate in-person sportsbooks:
- Spectrum Center
- Bank of America Stadium
- Charlotte Motor Speedway
- Quail Hollow Country Club
- North Wilkesboro Speedway
- PNC Arena in Raleigh
- WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary
- Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro
Of note: It’s unclear when stadiums and arenas would implement in-person betting.
At the signing, it was a who’s who of Charlotte sports executives, from the Charlotte Hornets president Fred Whitfield to Charlotte FC president Joe LaBue, Carolina Panthers president Kristi Coleman, Charlotte Motor Speedway EVP and general manger Greg Walter and Charlotte Sports Foundation executive director Danny Morrison.
Between the lines: The new legislation comes amid a failed attempt to legalize sports betting last year and pressure from professional teams on state lawmakers, who said failing to do so could shrink their revenues and put them at a competitive disadvantage, as Axios’ Lucille Sherman reported.
By the numbers: The measure, which goes into effect Jan. 8, 2024, will tax operators at a rate of 18%. North Carolina could generate $100 million in tax revenue from sports gambling after its fifth year, according to projections from the legislative researchers, per WRAL.
- Cooper called on the state legislature to invest future revenue generated by sports betting in public education.
- “Our teachers, our students, our public schools need us not only with this revenue in this legislation, but across the funding stream of our state,” Cooper said.
Flashback: Sports betting was largely limited to Las Vegas five years ago, but now, more than half of American adults live in a state where they can bet legally, asLucille reported.
- In 2021, North Carolina legalized in-person sports betting at a limited number of casinos in the western part of the state.