North Carolina online betting with new bill on the list

A North Carolina lawmaker has introduced a bill to legalize online sports betting after an attempt fell through the last hurdle last year.

Rep. Ashont Clemmons, the Democrat vice chairman of the House of Representatives, is the one sponsoring Monday HB347. It contains many of the same details as the failed 2022 bill that was blocked by the Senate. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper previously said he believes this is the year that sports betting legislation will be passed.

10-12 online operators

The bill provides that North Carolina would host 10-12 online operators as well as gaming areas at NASCAR tracks, professional sports stadiums and major golf courses. Specifically, these would not be full-fledged retail betting shops, but rather places for customers to interact with customer support.

The licenses would be valid for five years and would cost $1 million. Sports betting revenue would be taxed at a rate of 14% and advertising deductions would be unlimited until 2025.

Last year’s bill fell through for a number of reasons, one of which was blocking betting on state college teams. Although this is a fairly common principle in other states, and states without this rule have had problems, North Carolina officials did not want it adopted. This is mainly because collegiate sports teams at the University of North Carolina and Duke University, among others, are extremely popular and would become big prospects for online betting.

Sports betting is already legal at Harrah’s Cherokee casinos in Cherokee and Murphy.