Betting in North Carolina

North Carolina didn’t rush into online wagering. While Tennessee, Virginia, and other southeastern states launched years earlier, North Carolina stayed on the sidelines with only limited tribal retail sportsbooks in operation. That slow pace frustrated some, but it gave the state a front-row seat to see how early markets stumbled - from Tennessee’s pricing controversies to Virginia’s operator churn.

So when statewide mobile betting finally debuted in 2024, North Carolina skipped many of the pitfalls: No staggered launches. No in-person registration. No rapid-fire rule revisions. It built a clean, modern regulatory structure from the start - the benefit of watching others make mistakes before taking its own swing.

Instead of tying online access to casinos like many states did, North Carolina issued licenses through professional sports organizations - teams, tracks, arenas, and governing bodies. That decision opened the door to a broad operator roster without relying on a sprawling commercial casino industry.

The result was one of the strongest day-one lineups in the country: FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars, bet365, ESPN BET (now theScore), Fanatics, and Underdog were all live at launch.

For bettors, that depth matters - more operators means more pricing competition, more promotions, and a healthier long-term market.

North Carolina set its online sports betting tax at 18%, placing it squarely above the mid-range states but well below the heavyweights like New York (51%) and Pennsylvania (36%). It’s a number that doesn’t crush operators, but it’s high enough to influence how books price markets and structure promotions.

For bettors, that matters. An 18% tax gives operators less room to run aggressive long-term promos, and it narrows how sharp they can make their lines compared to lower-tax markets. It isn’t prohibitive, but it does create a marketplace where bonuses tend to be steadier rather than splashy, and where pricing leans slightly more conservative over time.

North Carolina took one of the more permissive approaches to college wagering in the U.S. Bettors can legally wager on in-state teams, in-state events, and college props, without the carve-outs you see in states like Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

For a state with massive college sports culture - UNC-Duke, ACC basketball, powerhouse football - this policy keeps the most in-demand markets fully available. That’s a big difference from restrictive states, where local-team bans permanently cap handle.

North Carolina is one of the more welcoming DFS states. Traditional daily fantasy contests are fully legal and regulated, and Pick ’Em operators remain active with clear guidance from the state. DraftKings, FanDuel, Underdog, PrizePicks, Sleeper, and others all operate with full backing of the law.

For players, this means North Carolina is one of the few southeastern markets where both classic DFS slates and modern Pick ’Em offerings remain widely available - a looser stance than the clampdowns seen in states like Florida, New York, and Michigan.

Real-money iGaming isn’t authorized in North Carolina, and lawmakers haven’t shown serious momentum toward legalization. That leaves a noticeable gap: no online slots, blackjack, roulette, or live-dealer tables are available through state-licensed operators.

Instead, social casinos act as the lawful alternative, offering casino-style games through prize-based sweepstakes systems. These platforms operate legally under federal sweepstakes law, not state gambling law - giving players a compliant path to casino-style play that traditional operators can’t currently offer.

Like nearly every regulated market, North Carolina prohibits betting on elections, award shows, and non-sporting outcomes. Sportsbooks cannot list those markets, regardless of demand.

But federally regulated prediction markets operate under commodities law, not gambling law - which means North Carolinians can still legally speculate on elections, economic indicators, and cultural events through platforms approved at the federal level.

It’s a niche that has been quickly growing in popularity, as it offers bettors a fully legal outlet for markets sportsbooks can’t touch.