The State of North Carolina currently features sports betting at in-person casinos located in Cherokee. These casinos are controlled by tribal interests, and with sports betting intake filed under general gambling revenue, the dollars are difficult to track.
Ultimately, money is the driving force behind most efforts to legalize domestic sportsbooks across the United States. Once sports betting gets the ok from lawmakers, there is no reason to minimalize the potential profits by limiting the venues.
If local politicians are serious about making money off of legal sports betting in North Carolina, they’ll need to consider adding online and mobile sportsbook apps to their arsenal.
Last year, a mobile sports betting bill failed by a single vote. There are expectations of a similar bill being introduced in the coming days.
Despite the rapid expansion of sports betting across the United States, the southeast has been slow to approve of domestic sportsbooks.
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee have had success with their state-regulated books thus far. Florida legalized sports betting for a few weeks, but now the legality of the state’s gaming compact has been challenged, shuttering sportsbooks for now.
Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Kentucky are the current southern holdouts. However, each of them has given strong consideration to making sports betting legal in the past.
Cherokee is not a convenient location for all areas of North Carolina. The addition of sports betting apps in NC will negate the temptation for regional gamblers to travel into Tennessee or Virginia to use their mobile sportsbooks.
North Carolina politicians are aware of these neighboring sports betting-friendly states and now seek to keep that business localized.
“We’re working with trying to make sure we get good legislation that is fair to the taxpayers but also recognizes something that is going on anyway… So we might as well get benefit for our schools and for our state out of it, so we’ll see how it goes.”
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper
Bettors in the Tarheel State are able to bet on iPhones and Android smartphones right now using offshore sportsbook sites. As long as the minimum age requirement is met, NC-based gamblers can wager on sports from anywhere inside the state.
Offshore gambling apps fall outside the jurisdiction of North Carolina or federal laws. This status allows these foreign books to accept bets from patrons inside of NC over the web without violating any regulations.
While the NC legislature mulls over downloadable sportsbook apps, international sports betting sites offer their services over the web through browsers like Opera and Safari right now.
These overseas apps represent yet another avenue allowing for tax dollars to flow out of the state unchecked.
Last year’s legislation had betting on college sports removed from the language. There’s no word on if that will happen again in 2023, but the negation would allow offshore sportsbooks, as well as apps from TN and VA, an advantage worth traveling for.
North Carolina’s 2023 legislative session concludes on August 31st.
WCNC Charlotte (NBC), WRAL News Raleigh
