Bill given the green light
Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, has given his approval for a sports betting study bill.
His announcement follows a lot of back-and-forth within the legislature in relation to the issue. This approval will act as a gateway for gambling expansion in the future, if results are positive.
This new legislation gives power to the North Carolina Lottery Commission to authorize a third-party study looking into the potential effects of different forms of gambling expansion.
Breakdown of this study
One of the key aspects of the study will be to assess the impact of legalizing sports betting both in a retail setting and online. Currently, there are thirteen states with legal sports betting. Five of these states also have legal mobile sports betting.
there will also be an assessment into the potential impact of legalizing casino games, slots and/or online poker
As part of this bill, it looks at potentially creating a new regulatory body for oversight. It would put in place a better structure for potential gambling expansion in the future.
While the main focus of this bill is sports betting, there will also be an assessment into the potential impact of legalizing casino games, slots and/or online poker.
Support for this bill
The Republican Party is in control of both the Senate and the House in North Carolina. The party is happy with this legislation provided that its goal is only to study potential gambling expansion. The party first ensured that this bill does not give a mandate for the actual expansion of gambling in the state.
Governor Cooper is a Democrat and he had little other option than to sign this bill as a veto would have been overridden. This bill is a major step forward in a traditionally conservative state when it comes to gambling.
Future plans
The two tribal casinos in the state, Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino and Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, were given the green light to open sportsbooks. This is for retail sports betting only and these sportsbooks should open their doors to the public by the end of 2019.
new study on the effects of sports betting will not be put in front of the legislature until April 2020
Both facilities will offer sports betting on professional and college sports, including for teams from the state. Both of these tribal casinos are located in rural settings on the western side of North Carolina.
The new study on the effects of sports betting will not be put in front of the legislature until April 2020. With the legislative session ending in July, there will not be a lot of time for a potential legalization bill to get approval.
It would also take between six months and a year to fully implement a sports betting framework, including a testing period.