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Sports betting in North Carolina could begin in time for the 2021 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, after representatives from the two Native American casinos in the state and the state government agreed to an operational sports betting agreement last week.
The deal only allows face-to-face sports betting at the two casinos of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in the rural western part of the state, after almost 1.5 years of negotiations, but creates another state with a legal bet option before the most lucrative betting event in sports calendar.
Two face-to-face sports bets are likely to be an insignificant part of the national market, which sees hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly turnover, the vast majority of which come online, but will be a boost for EBCI, as well as bettors in the region. EBCI’s real sports bets will be the first two legal retail betting options in an eight-state region that includes Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. The eighth state, Tennessee, has legal mobile bets, but no sports bets at retail.
“COVID-19 has negatively impacted the financing of essential community services in our country, so we welcome this new diversified revenue stream,” said Richard Sneed, EBCI’s chief head, in a statement to the Cherokee One Feather, the official newspaper of the tribe. “The addition of these new services is a positive step towards a more stable and secure future for our tribal members and government operations.”
North Carolina sports betting history
The sports betting path comes after the tribe and Governor Roy Cooper finalized a revised compact earlier this month. Although Cooper technically approved sports betting at the tribe’s two casinos in July 2019, the parties still needed to confirm an updated pact that incorporated sports betting.
The long delay of technical legalization to the first bet now awaits the final approval of Cooper and the Federal Department of the Interior. After both receive the amended pact, it is still subject to a 45-day waiting period, which A feather reported. Assuming that registrations won’t arrive in the next few days, it seems unlikely that sportsbooks will be able to open in time for the Super Bowl LV in February, but it should be live before the first March Madness games.
Harrah’s casinos in Murphy and Cherokee, located in the western tip of the state, near the Tennessee border, have been preparing for legal sports betting before Cooper even signed the bill. The legislation that allowed sports betting at retail was passed by the legislature with minimal opposition, but was still subject to a revised pact, a process that proved more complicated and was supposedly exacerbated by the pandemic COVID-19.
Despite the delay, EBCI will be among the first Native American groups to accept a sports bet at a tribal casino and will be, at least in the immediate future, the only entity capable of accepting a legal bet in North Carolina.
Online betting is unlikely to follow quickly
The pending retail launch may help open the door to mobile betting across the state, but that process is likely to be even more difficult politically and logistically than the retail launch.
Despite growing national support for legal gambling, North Carolina politicians have largely opposed the expansion of the games. The last state on the east coast to approve a state-sanctioned lottery, North Carolina remains among an ever-decreasing number of states without a commercial casino.
Some high-profile supporters are looking to change that opposition, including Carolina Panther owner David Tepper, who publicly supported legal gambling in North and South Carolina. Neighboring Virginia approved its first commercial casinos this year, including one in the city of Danville, which is along the border with North Carolina. Virginia’s first online sports betting is due to be published in early 2021.
It remains to be seen whether this will force online sports betting in a legislature that seems reluctant to embrace sports betting outside the two casinos. Religious and conservative groups have considerable influence on state policy and will almost certainly oppose any further expansion of the game.
A possible third North Carolina tribal casino could also cloud potential legal sports betting. Despite EBCI’s objection, the Catawba tribe is promoting a resort casino near Charlotte and the South Carolina border. Although the federally recognized Catawba tribal lands are in South Carolina, which has even stricter rules in relation to gambling and the banning of casinos, the federal government allowed them to present plans for a facility in North Carolina.
This jeopardizes the de facto EBCI monopoly of state (and region) casino gaming operations and can complicate any new form of gambling. Combined with political obstacles, legal online betting may not be a reality in the immediate future.