North Carolina Join US States with Legal Sports Wagering, Professional Sports Venues Eligible to Operate a Sportsbook

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North Carolina Senator Jim Perry (R-Lenoir) introduced Senate Bill 688 to authorize state sports betting. North Carolina now has legal sports betting after the Senate Finance Committee passed the legislation.

Perry says that sports betting will apply to professional and collegiate sports located in the state. So far, 21 states including, the District of Columbia, have legal sports betting. North Carolina neighboring states of Tennessee and Virginia have also legalized sports betting.

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Last December, North Carolina lawmakers amended the tribal gaming compact to allow the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to conduct sports betting in Harrah’s Cherokee and Harrah’s Cherokee Valle River Resorts.

The two resorts started accepting live sports betting in March this year after the US Bureau of Indian Affair rectified the compact. Perry now wants to bring commercial sports betting. The legislation calls for 12 mobile sports betting licenses. The licenses are available for professional sports venues, and brick and mortar casinos.

The legislation requires operators to pay a $500, 000 one-time licensing fee. The operators will also pay eight percent of their gross earnings to the state. Perry says that the tax revenue will be used to bring events such as Super Bowl, NFL Draft, and NCAA tournament to the state.

However, the legislation is not without critics North Carolina Family Policy Council is rejecting the legalization of sports betting for its harm to society. Family Council President John Rustin says that professional sports, collegiate, and amateur sports will no longer be the centerpiece of sports competition but gambling.

Rustin added that gamblers would become addicted and engaged in criminal acts of theft include theft and embezzlement. Rustin added cases of loss of jobs, bankruptcy, drug abuse, and suicide would increase.