The North Carolina Lottery Commission unanimously approved the launch of legal online sports betting in North Carolina.
In June last year, Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 347, the Sports Betting Act, allowing individuals aged 21 and over to participate in online betting on professional, collegiate, and amateur sports, as well as horse racing. However, experts have raised concerns that this law might increase the risk of gambling addiction among college students, as sports play a significant role on college campuses.
This legalization follows the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, which overturned the federal ban on sports betting in most states. North Carolina is now the 30th state to legalize online sports betting, with in-person sports betting limited to three casinos on the lands of the Cherokee and Catawba tribes.
The legalization of online sports betting could bring up to 12 online sports betting operators, including applications from the Cherokee and Catawba nations.
James Whelan, Executive Director of the Tennessee Institute for Gambling Education and Research, expressed his concern about the susceptibility of the younger generation to gambling disorders due to prevalent advertising and increased use of technology. He said:
Betting is not a difficult task. First, you have to believe that you can do it well. Secondly, betting is easy. You don't have to drive somewhere.
Rosa Lee, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of North Carolina, emphasized that gambling, similar to substance abuse disorders, can activate specific reward pathways associated with cues or cravings. She noted that pathological gambling (recognized as a gambling disorder) has been listed in the DSM-5 manual for mental health professionals for further research and consideration as a potential disorder.
Christopher McLaughlin, a professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Government, expressed his concern that allowing sports betting might increase the risk of gambling addiction, especially among young people, including college students. However, he acknowledged the importance of this law as a potential source of revenue for the state, citing gambling tax revenues from neighboring states Virginia and Tennessee, which have already legalized online sports betting. He added:
This figure is in the billions, and if you just look at Virginia, a state slightly smaller than North Carolina but roughly the same size, the amount legally bet in 2023 exceeded $5 billion.
The North Carolina General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division estimates that the state will generate approximately $64.6 million in revenue in the first year of implementing this law.
