Duke-UNC game, Super Bowl are coming up. When will you be able to bet on sports in NC?
Yes, sports gambling in North Carolina is legal. But only on tribal lands. And no, you can’t actually place a bet on Saturday’s Duke-North Carolina basketball game or Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Confused?
In 2019, North Carolina’s state lawmakers approved a bill allowing bets on sporting events on tribal lands. The new state law took effect on July 26, 2019.
But some 18 months later, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Harrah’s — which own and operate the two casinos in the state — are still waiting for clearance from the Department of Interior to begin taking bets.
The law required an amended Tribal-State Gaming Compact. The tribe and Gov. Roy Cooper’s office agreed to an amended compact in December 2020, but the Department of the Interior has not yet approved it or filed it to the Federal Register.
“We do not have a timeline, however, we are excited and ready to offer sports betting when approved and steps complete,” said Kelci Coker, a spokesperson for Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos in Western North Carolina.
Both casinos — the Cherokee Casino Resort and the Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel near Murphy — have sports books on site. Sports books are dedicated areas inside casinos to place bets on sporting events.
“Both sports books are ready from a facilities and staffing standpoint. Once approval is given, we could be open within a few days,” Corker said.
The Super Bowl is typically one of the biggest sports betting days of the year. Sunday’s game features the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, quarterbacked by six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. Brady, who won all of his previous titles with the New England Patriots, is in his first season with Tampa Bay.
The Chiefs are favored to win by 3.5 points.
But bettors can also wager on all sorts of happenings in the game — everything from whether the coin toss will be a heads or a tails to how long the national anthem lasts to the color of Gatorade that gets dumped on the winning coach.
One estimate from an industry group predicted a record-setting $6.8 billion will be wagered on the Super Bowl in the United States, in part because more states have legalized sports gambling.
A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision opened the door for most states to create legal sports gambling. As a result, many states from coast to coast have adopted different options for legalized sports gambling.
Betting online is not legal in North Carolina, despite its rise across the nation. More than a dozen states, including Virginia, and the District of Columbia allow online wagering, with the majority having a range of providers. Some states have only one online option.
A few states, like North Carolina, currently allow betting on sports only in physical sports books.
Another 2019 state law called on North Carolina’s Lottery Commission to produce a report on the feasibility of authorizing additional sports betting. The report has been produced, but it has not been presented publicly due to a lack of hearings during the coronavirus pandemic, state Rep. Jason Saine said. Saine is chairman of the committee that oversees the lottery. He declined to share the findings until the report is made public at a hearing.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 9:48 AM with the headline "Duke-UNC game, Super Bowl are coming up. When will you be able to bet on sports in NC?."
