North Carolina Sports Betting by 2024

Online betting in North Carolina could be legal by 2024. This was after a bill was approved by committee yesterday and moved to the House where it will be voted on.

Rep Jason Saine introduced the bill, which looks to start online sports betting from January 8, 2024. This amendment is seven days later than his previous sports betting bill. Another change sees the deletion of dog and horse racing. More funding will also go to UNC system schools which don’t play in the FBS.

The bill already has 52 co-sponsors. Up to 12 sports betting operators will be granted a licence, at a cost of £1 million and which will last five years. All revenue made from gambling will be taxed at a rate of 14 per cent.

Sports betting in the state is to be regulated by the North Carolina Lottery Commission, and it is this team who will also issue the licences.

Licensed sports betting in North Carolina was almost ‘a thing’ last year when a similar sports betting bill got all the way to the House of Representatives. This was following a successful reading in the state’s Senate. The North Carolina House of Representatives approved the online sports betting bill, SB 38, on second reading by a vote of 51-50 on the final night of the 2022 session. But its later bill, SB 688, was later voted down by just one single vote.

Even then an amendment to the bill took out the right to bet on college games. When it comes to distributing revenue earned from betting on college sports, the Olympics, professional sports and eSports, the biggest winner, at $2 million per year, is gambling addiction and treatment provision.

Second highest amount of $1 million annually is to go to the state’s Division of Parks and Recreation to allow them to buy youth sports equipment.

Seven state universities would receive $300,000 each year to boost the coffers of their athletic departments, while the Outdoor Heritage Advisory Council would be given money to distribute to worthwhile schemes.

Although the tax rate has been set at 14 per cent of adjusted gross revenue in Saine’s bill, promotional bets and bonuses would be tax deductible in 2024. But as the year’s progress, the rate at which these are tax deductible will continue to decrease until the year 2026 – to the extent that by the beginning of January 2027 there will be no such deductions available.