North Carolina Committee Believes Sports Betting Will Not Launch Jan. 8

• The North Carolina Sports Betting Committee publicly believes that sports betting will not launch on Jan. 8.
• Jan. 8 is the first day sports betting is legally able to be launched in North Carolina
• Sports betting rules, operator agreements, testing, and other steps are still necessary to complete before sports betting can launch

Most thought it would be a longshot, but the North Carolina Sports Betting Committee likely made it official this morning.

Members of the North Carolina Sports Betting Committee noted this morning that North Carolina sports betting will likely not launch on Jan. 8, 2024, the first day the state can statutorily launch under its approved bill.

There is still no official date for when the state will launch sports betting.

Jan. 8 Launch Not Possible

Committee Member Ripley Rand confirmed with Sterl Carpenter, North Carolina deputy executive director of gaming compliance and sports betting, that the state cannot launch sports betting until all sports betting rules are approved, sports betting operators are approved, testing is completed, and the sports betting catalogue is finalized.

“Jan. 8 is the first date we can launch sports betting. But that will not, it probably won’t be the date that bettin is authorized, considering everything we still have to do,” Rand said.

Committee Member Cari Boyce said the only way North  Carolina could potentially launch sports betting on Jan. 8 is if the committee started to meet every day, as opposed to the weekly meetings it holds now.

North Carolina sports betting can launch as early as Jan. 8, 2024, but it cannot launch later than June 15, 2024. Additionally, there are certain steps the state committee cannot take to launch sports betting until the Jan. 8, 2024 date, including testing technology, security, and approving house rules.

To help educate North Carolina residents on the timeline, licensing, and where sports betting revenue is distributed, the commission has published a new website to help provide information for interested individuals.

Sports Betting Catalogue Introduced

Carpenter introduced the North Carolina sports betting catalogue to the committee today. The catalogue is a comprehensive document on which sporting events, league, and markets state bettors will be able to wager on.

It allows allows bets on professional sports, college sports (including in-state schools), and the Olympic games. However, there will be no eSports on the initial sports betting catalogue, but operators will be able to petition the North Carolina Lottery to allow bets on certain eSports events.

The XFL has been included in the initial catalogue.

The sports betting committee unanimously approved the catalogue and sent the document to the North Carolina Lottery Commission for full approval.