The North Carolina State Lottery Commission recently discussed the future of mobile sports betting in the state. Officials remain convinced that they will be able to meet the original deadline, launching mobile sports betting by mid-2024.
The commission believes that the first mobile sportsbooks will go live within the first half of the next year, ushering in a new age of betting. According to representatives, the market should be functional no later than mid-June maybe even earlier.
Some went as far as claiming that the market may launch in January but many prefer to remain cautiously optimistic and focus on meeting the June deadline.
Sterl Carpenter, deputy executive director of gaming compliance and sports betting at the North Carolina State Lottery Commission, noted that lawmakers are still making tweaks to the mobile system. Despite that, Carpenter is certain that the commission will get betting running no later than mid-June.
In the meantime, the commission will continue its work on the local regulations and licensing system.
The Regulator Will Be Busy
Speaking of the licensing process in North Carolina, the commission was considering an electronic application system. However, the regulator did not quite like the four submissions it received and preferred not to progress with these plans for now. As a result, at least in the beginning, the North Carolina State Lottery Commission will handle the applications.
In the meantime, the commission unveiled the creation of a new sports betting committee that will deal with “sports betting issues that don’t fit neatly into the other committees.” This is yet another effort to systematize the regulator’s work ahead of the market launch.
In unrelated news, the North Carolina governor just rejected a controversial plan put forth by Republican state lawmakers that would have tied the long-awaited expansion of Medicaid with a proposed expansion of casino gaming in the state. Governor Roy Cooper went as far as calling the proposal the “most brutally dishonest legislative scheme” he has seen during his 30 years in politics.
In the meantime, a recent report claimed that the lobbying efforts of the gambling industry have affected the decisions of certain government members, influencing their votes during recent decisions. According to a local news outlet, eight North Carolina lawmakers had received a total of $34,400 between November 2022 and March 2023.