Who Lobbied For Sports Betting In North Carolina?

Out-of-state lobbying groups with a heavy interest in gambling poured nearly half a million dollars into supporting legislation that legalized sports betting in North Carolina, according to a noted campaign finance watchdog.

According to Bob Hall, the former executive director of Democracy North Carolina, “38 gambling-related businesses and associations – including 29 based outside North Carolina – are paying 71 different lobbyists to promote their agenda this year to 170 state legislators.”

Hall’s research, gleaned from public data available from the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office, shows that more than $500,000 was donated in small amounts to lawmakers in the first six months of 2023, potentially for the purpose of influencing legislation to legalize sports betting in North Carolina as well as recreational marijuana use.

Most troubling, according to Hall, is the fact that more than half of that total comes from donors outside the state of North Carolina. State law forbids lobbyists from giving directly to a lawmaker, but an individual or a business/corporation may hire a lobbyist and donate through them to a lawmaker.

Sports betting donors with criminal pasts

The list of donors includes a few individuals with criminal convictions, which has prompted Hall to send his research to the NC State Board of Election for review. Hall is also troubled by the timing of so many donations targeting lawmakers who were poised to vote on gambling legislation.

“The donors’ checks are crucial for understanding what’s going on,” Hall wrote in a press release. “This sudden embrace by legislative leaders of big time gambling in particular is so strange, given North Carolina’s conservative history and longstanding opposition from law enforcement and pastors. You have to follow the money.”

Hall is the author of several books on the topic of political process, including Who Owns North Carolina, Environmental Politics: Lessons from the Grassroots, and The Democracy Index. His statements and writings seem to indicate that he is opposed to the legalization and regulation of sports betting in North Carolina.

With the 2023 NC legislative session nearly completed, an accounting of these contributions acknowledges that gambling interests are engaged in the political process.

A few notable donors are Robert B. Huckabee III of Wilmington, who donated more than $100,000. According to Hall, Huckabee’s company Southland Gaming was sued in the U.S. Virgin Islands for “making millions of dollars from illegal slot machines.” Hall also claims that donor Brett Blanks previously was charged with operating illegal video poker machines in South Carolina.

Online sports betting will launch in early 2024

Lawmakers, led by a contingent of pro-gambling Republicans, passed sports betting legislation in May, and democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed it into law in June. The state mandates a launch of online sports betting no later than June of 2024, and as early as January.

Critics of sports betting have cited concerns over an increase in gambling addiction. But supporters successfully argued in the state house and senate that citizens are already betting on sports in North Carolina, and regulation was the only way to make it safe for consumers.

Tax revenue from sports betting is earmarked to support public education, as well as funding for problem gambling, $1 million to NC Amateur Sports, and another $1 million to the North Carolina Heritage Advisory Council.

Lobbyists who donated to NC sports betting legalization

This list is from a press release issued by Bob Hall, a campaign finance watchdog. The table has donors who contributed from Jan. to June of 2023, to North Carolina lawmakers involved in legislative efforts for legalizing sports betting and/or marijuana use.

The intent of those contributions cannot be gleaned from this raw data, and we were unable to separate the donors based on their area of interest.

According to Hall, only 13 of the donors in this list sent money for marijuana legislation influence, the rest was for gambling efforts.