It might feel like North Carolina is progressing slowly in its march toward legal online sports betting.
The state can launch its sportsbook apps as early as Jan. 8, 2024. However, the North Carolina Lottery Commission has not begun to publicly discuss its drafts for sports betting regulations, or any hopeful timeline for the apps to go live. Consider: There are about four months between now and Jan. 8.
That might not seem like a lot of time … but one prominent expert in gaming law thinks it’s plenty.
Stephen Miller, an attorney at Cozen O’Connor and the Co-Chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense & Investigations practice group who also specializes in gaming law, told NCSharp there’s no reason to think the NCLC can’t get the state’s sports betting industry launched by Jan. 8.
“I think it’s absolutely realistic,” Miller said. “This is not the first rodeo for the gaming companies; they can scale up their marketing and technology very quickly.”
January launch means a lot more tax revenue
According to the NC sports betting bill, regulators can launch online sports betting any time from Jan. 8, 2024, to June 14, 2024.
Obviously, the earlier apps launch, the more money can flow into state coffers.
Launching in January would allow North Carolina bettors to wager on the Super Bowl, which is the cashiest cash cow on the US sports betting calendar. There’s also the Australian Open in January, Daytona 500 in February, March Madness in March, The Masters in April, and the PGA Championship and Indy 500 in May.
A launch in June would miss all those online sports betting opportunities.
NCSharp projects that a big first year for North Carolina sports betting. Our projection sees between $6-$7 billion in total bet spending in year one of online sports betting.
NC can learn from other states and move quickly
If North Carolina was among the first wave of online sports betting launches, then maybe its regulators couldn’t launch the industry in this quick of a turnaround.
But it’s not in the first wave. Or, really, the second … or third … or fourth.
North Carolina is the 29th state to specifically authorize legal online sports betting.
That’s a lot of other states to learn from. And Miller thinks that’s a big reason NC can launch on Jan. 8, 2024.
“The regulators face a tougher test,” he said, “but they can benefit from the successes and failures of other state regulators across the country.”
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