The day North Carolina sports bettors have waited for has finally arrived. Online North Carolina sports betting will be available starting at noon today, and people from the Outer Banks to the Smokies will be able to wager on their favorite sports, teams and players. The Tar Heel State becomes the 30th in the nation to permit mobile wagering.
Eight North Carolina sports betting apps and websites are expected to launch. That includes bet365, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, ESPN BET, Fanatics, FanDuel and Underdog. For Underdog, North Carolina marks the Brooklyn-based company’s first foray into sports betting after it was established as a fantasy sports operator four years ago.
Caesars began taking online wagers last week on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tribal lands in the southwestern corner of the state. The Nevada-based gaming giant operates two brick-and-mortar casinos for the tribal nation.
North Carolina Sports Betting Starts With ACC Tournament
The North Carolina sports betting operators approved by the state lottery will be able to offer markets in 45 different sports. However, the main one on many bettors’ minds will be college basketball. March Madness will soon be in full swing, but before the NCAA basketball tournaments begin, the major conferences tip off their tournaments this week.
That includes the ACC, which starts on Tuesday. NC State will be part of the first day as the Wolfpack plays Louisville in a first-round match. North Carolina and Duke are the top two seeds. They have byes until the Thursday quarterfinals and could face each other for a third time this season in Saturday night’s championship game.
UNC won the conference regular-season title and swept the Blue Devils in their two regular-season matchups, including an 84-79 win at Duke this past Saturday. Yet, FanDuel Sportsbook has Duke as the tourney favorite, with odds of +165, which means a $100 wager would return a profit of $165. The Tar Heels are the second choice at +190.
For the NCAA Tournament, BetMGM North Carolina gives NC odds of +1800 and +2500 for Duke.
North Carolina Sports Betting Likely To Be Big
With a population of more than 10 million, North Carolina will be the sixth-largest state in the nation that allows sports betting. Because of that, many in the gaming industry expect the state to quickly become one of the larger markets in the U.S. BetCarolina.com has forecasted a handle of nearly $6.5 billion for the first year.
Neighbors Tennessee and Virginia have online sports betting, and EBCI and the Catawba Nation host retail sportsbooks at their in-state casinos. Still, North Carolina is expected to be fertile ground for sportsbooks. Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Greensboro-Winston-Salem, the state’s major population centers, are not located near either state, and only Charlotte is close to a tribal casino.
In addition, North Carolina sportsbooks will attract bettors from neighboring South Carolina to come across the state line. The Palmetto State is one of the 12 states that has yet to legalize sports betting.
Roughly 450,000 people live in the South Carolina counties that are part of the Charlotte metropolitan area. Further, the state’s largest metro area, Greenville-Spartanburg, borders North Carolina. Clemson is part of the Greenville metro, and DraftKings has the Tigers as their third choice in this week’s ACC Tournament at +850.
Stay with BetCarolina.com for the best North Carolina sportsbook promos and to keep up with the latest news.
