Sports betting may be illegal in North Carolina but that hasn’t stopped thousands of residents attempting to put a wager down on a sporting event.
GeoComply is a company that tracks location data for legal online sportsbooks and recently provided some data that left lawmakers stunned.
Most sportsbooks operating in the United States use GeoComply to make sure that no one who is not allowed to access a mobile app can’t. Sportsbooks can be fined if someone from out of state, where sports betting is illegal, attempts to make a wager in a state that allows sports betting.
GeoComply shared their date during a committee hearing on pending sports betting legislation last week. It told the lawmakers that they are able to see how many illegal bets have been made by Tar Heel State residents.
The company, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, showed that people in the state made more than 1.75 million attempts to bet on sports during the NFL season alone. Those attempted bets were placed by approximately 166,000 different accounts.
It didn’t stop after the Super Bowl. Between March 17 and March 19, 72,000 attempts were placed on the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
With those attempts unsuccessful, John Pappas, GeoComply’s senior vice president of government and public affairs, told the committee many of the customers will cross state lines to where sports betting is legal.
“It’s not surprising that many of these of these folks are looking to access legal books in Tennessee and Virginia, so those states are benefitting,” Pappas said. “Worse so though is those players are turning to offshore illegal sites and placing their bets there. Tens of thousands of North Carolinians are betting on these sites, and these sites are actively marketing to consumers right here in the state of North Carolina.”
Some cunning internet users are able to make bets in North Carolina by using illegal offshore betting sites. Those operators don’t abide by the same set of stringent laws. The user, however, does not have the protections that are in place in the United States.
Hopefully, by the end of the year, this will all be a mute point. The state is currently in the process of trying to pass legislation that would make sports betting legal in North Carolina. It got a big victory on Tuesday as the House voted 66-45 to approve sports betting. Another vote will be taken but if it passes as expected it will move onto the Senate. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger supports the bill and several of the opponents in the Senate that killed a similar bill last year are no longer in office.
Democratic Governor Roy Cooper said he will sign a bill if it lands on his desk.
The North Carolina Lottery Commission would issue between 10 and 12 interactive sports wagering licenses to entities that would be subject to robust background checks and $1 million application fees. The goal is to have sports betting up and ready to go by January 8, 2024.
