North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper recently signed a bill authorizing the state’s Lottery Commission to study whether legal sports betting should be allowed. Currently, sports wagering is only permitted at Harrah’s casinos in Cherokee and Murphy, owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. tribal casinos in the western North Carolina towns of Cherokee and Murphy.
Legislation passed in July allows sports betting only at those locations, which are expected to open sportsbooks by the end of the year.
Under the new law, the North Carolina Lottery Commission may contract with an independent third party to study the potential impact of sports betting. The law states the study will determine the “potential revenues and expenditures” of sports betting as well as examine “the positive and negative impacts of authorizing sports betting in this state, whether any additional resources may be needed for assistance to those with gambling addictions.” Also, the law mentions the possibility of creating a gaming commission or authority to oversee sports betting.
The law requires the commission to report back to the state’s Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on the State Lottery on or before April 15, 2020. Statewide sports betting would require a new law, signed by the governor, in order to become legal.
The new law, S 574, passed 44-1 in the Senate and 97-12 in the House.
A 2017 Oxford Economics nationwide study of sports betting markets, commissioned by the American Gaming Association, indicated sports betting in North Carolina could generate $7.2 billion in annual bets, based on allowing mobile betting and a 10 percent tax rate on operators.
