North Carolina’s mobile sports betting market will open on March 11, the State Lottery Commission has confirmed.
Operators can begin registering player accounts and accepting deposits from March 1 in the build-up to the launch.
Gov. Roy Cooper had earlier said he expected the regulations, which have a mid-June cut-off date to be implemented, to be set in stone in time for March Madness.
“The plan approved today means that North Carolinians will be able to place bets on their favourite teams in many of this year’s college basketball conference tournaments, including men’s tournaments in the ACC, Conference USA, the MEAC, and the AAC, as well as throughout the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments,” said Ripley Rand, chair of the Commission.
“Bets on sporting events have been made for as long as those events have taken place, but this time they will be legal, they will be done securely and fairly and they will be made under rules designed to encourage responsible gaming.”
The first sports wagers will be made on mobile devise, with in-person sports wagering to follow “on a case-by-case basis” as interested operators meet “standard requirements,” the State Lottery Commission said.
