Sports betting is officially legal in North Carolina.

Sports

When North Carolina sports fans are ready to bet on Tar Heels basketball or football games, the best sports betting site to go to is SportsBetting. You’ll find everything you need at SportsBetting, including a straight-up amazing sportsbook. Any North Carolina resident age 21 and older may use the site. Best of all, it’s legal and safe.

Gov. Roy Cooper signed S 154 into law on Friday, making his state the seventh to pass a sports betting bill this year. The new NC sports betting law allows the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to operate retail sportsbooks at two casinos in the Appalachian Mountains.

Perhaps because of North Carolina’s ingrained anti-gambling stances, it has been slow to adopt new forms of betting such as online sports betting. Up until recently, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) had limited sports betting in almost every state. The Legality Of Sports Betting In North Carolina Just because the state has been heavily anti-gambling in the past doesn’t mean they will stay this way forever. In fact, legislators from both.

A separate bill aimed at studying a statewide implementation is also near the finish line, though its fate remains uncertain.

NC sports betting basics

The Cherokee tribe holds a monopoly on gambling in North Carolina, a privilege that now extends to sports betting. The new law adds sports wagering to the tribe’s list of authorized Class III games.

Apart from the location restriction, the framework for NC sports betting is a good one.

Gambling In North Carolina

The lack of a licensing process should make the regulatory logistics relatively painless, and lawmakers chose not to impose any additional burdens on the operation. There is no integrity fee in the NC sports betting law, nor any prohibition against booking action on specific teams or events. The legislature turned down a midsession proposal to ban betting on in-state collegiate teams.

North Carolina Online Sports BettingNorth Carolina Online Sports Betting

The bill from Sen. Jim Davis enjoyed bipartisan support along the way, although it disappeared from view for months midsession. It was a good sweat, with the House waiting until overtime to consider the measure.

The passage is good news for Caesars, which operates the two tribal properties — Harrah’s Cherokee and its sister property, Valley River. The latter is located across the mountain from the Cherokee in the small town of Murphy.

Betting

NC misses the mark on mobile betting

Any sports betting law that limits wagering to retail locations is somewhat incomplete.

Lessons from early-adopting markets like New Jersey underscore the importance of online and mobile betting. More than 80% of all NJ sports betting is conducted via computers and smartphones, bolstered by commuting customers from neighboring states.

New York might have legal sports betting upstate, but mobile sportsbooks just across the border still represent a better option for downstate residents. The situation is equally lamentable in North Carolina.

North Carolina Online Sports Betting Rules

Harrah’s Cherokee is three hours from the nearest major city — Charlotte — and close to 90 minutes from a regional airport. While the property does see brisk traffic from visitors, it is not the easiest place to access. It may not ever have a mountain monopoly on sports betting.

North Carolina Online Sports Betting

Tennessee also passed a sports betting law this year, and its framework centers around statewide betting. The Volunteer State‘s flawed scheme could launch later this year.