Is Sports Betting Legal in North Carolina?

Yes. Sports betting is fully legal in North Carolina, both online and at retail locations. Online and mobile betting launched on March 11, 2024, after Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 347 into law on June 14, 2023. In-person retail betting at tribal casinos has been legal even longer, dating to a 2019 law, with the first legal bet placed in March 2021.

You must be at least 21 years old to bet. You do not need to be a North Carolina resident, but you must be physically located within state lines at the moment you place a wager. Every licensed sportsbook must hold a written agreement with a North Carolina professional sports team, sports venue, motorsports facility, golf tournament site, or tribe in order to be licensed. The North Carolina State Lottery Commission regulates the online market, while the Cherokee Tribal Gaming Commission oversees the retail tribal sportsbooks. For betting on your phone, see our mobile sports betting guide.

College Sports Betting in North Carolina

North Carolina allows betting on college sports, including in-state teams such as North Carolina, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, and East Carolina. This sets the state apart from several others that ban wagering on home-state college programs. Individual player props on college athletes were available at launch, but regulators have moved to restrict some of them under pressure from the NCAA.

This remains an active legislative issue. In April 2025, lawmakers introduced House Bill 828, which would ban college player props entirely. Supporters argue it protects student-athletes from harassment. It was the second time such a bill had been introduced. As of early 2026, no full ban had been enacted, so check the current status before placing college prop bets.

Operators pay an 18 percent tax on gross wagering revenue and cannot deduct promotional credits from their taxable revenue. Tax proceeds are directed by statute to specific purposes, including problem gambling programs, youth and amateur sports, and collegiate athletic departments at state universities. There are no per-wager surcharges or minimum-bet fees passed to bettors here, so the rate does not change what you pay at the window. For individual bettors, winnings are subject to North Carolina state income tax of 4.5 percent plus applicable federal taxes, and you are responsible for reporting your winnings.

The current licensed online sportsbooks in North Carolina are FanDuel Sportsbook, DraftKings Sportsbook, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, bet365, Fanatics Sportsbook and theScore Bet.

Types of Bonuses You Will See

Bonus Terms to Understand Before You Sign Up

How North Carolina Regulates Bonuses

North Carolina has specific rules that protect bettors from misleading promotions. Under the commission’s advertising rules, operators must describe bonuses in complete, accurate, and non-misleading language. They cannot call a promotion free if the customer must risk or lose money, and cannot call it risk-free if the customer must incur a loss or risk their own money to withdraw winnings. Operators must provide a clear way to cancel a bonus and cannot cap the winnings a customer can earn once the bonus terms are met. This is why you rarely see the words free bet or risk-free in North Carolina advertising.

Offshore Sites Are Not Legal or Regulated in North Carolina

Offshore sportsbooks are not licensed by the North Carolina State Lottery Commission and operate entirely outside United States and North Carolina law. They are typically based in foreign jurisdictions such as Curacao, Costa Rica, Anjouan, or Panama, and they answer only to those foreign authorities, if any. None of the consumer protections described in North Carolina’s law apply to them. The reserve requirements, the five-day withdrawal rule, the security audits, the dispute resolution path, and the self-exclusion program simply do not cover offshore books.

The Risks of Using Offshore Sportsbooks

The offshore sites most commonly seen accepting North Carolina players are reviewed below. These reviews are provided for informational purposes only. None of these books are licensed or regulated in North Carolina, none carry the consumer protections of the licensed market, and we strongly recommend using the state’s licensed sportsbooks instead.

Bovada

Bovada is one of the longest-running and most recognized offshore books serving United States players. It is known for a crypto-friendly cashier, a unified account that spans sportsbook, casino, and poker, and a refer-a-friend program. Bettors often cite reasonably quick Bitcoin payouts. None of that changes the core issue: Bovada operates outside North Carolina law, so there is no state regulator behind any dispute, and the consumer protections of the licensed market do not apply.

BetOnline

BetOnline is an offshore book that markets deep betting menus, a wide range of props, and ongoing promotions, along with crypto and traditional banking options. It has been operating for years and is a familiar name to offshore bettors. As with all offshore sites, it is unlicensed in North Carolina, its payout and dispute policies are governed only by its own terms, and bettors have no state recourse if something goes wrong.

BetUS

BetUS is a long-established offshore operator that promotes sportsbook, casino, and racebook products under one roof, along with sports content and broadcast-style previews. It advertises sizable welcome bonuses, though offshore bonus terms are not bound by North Carolina’s advertising rules. It is not licensed or regulated in the state, and the absence of state oversight is the central risk.

MyBookie

MyBookie is an offshore book that emphasizes an extensive racebook, prop variety, and frequent promotions, with crypto and card deposit options. It is a familiar offshore brand, but like the others it operates beyond the reach of North Carolina regulators. There is no reserve requirement protecting your funds, no mandated withdrawal deadline, and no regulated dispute process.

Licensed Versus Offshore: The Bottom Line

The difference comes down to protection. Licensed North Carolina sportsbooks go through an extensive vetting process, must hold cash reserves, undergo annual security audits, honor withdrawals on a deadline, follow a regulated dispute process, and answer to a state regulator you can contact. Offshore sites offer none of that. For the safety of your money and your information, the licensed books listed earlier on this page are the recommended choice.

1. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee)

This is the flagship and the largest casino in the state. It was the site of North Carolina’s first legal sports bet in 2021, and its sportsbook is operated by Caesars. The property features a gaming floor of roughly 150,000 square feet with slots, table games, video poker, and one of the only legal poker rooms in the state. Beyond gaming, the resort offers more than a thousand hotel rooms, a spa, a golf club, multiple restaurants, and live entertainment. It is the premier in-person betting and casino destination in North Carolina.

2. Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River (Murphy)

Located near the western tip of the state in Murphy, this Caesars-operated property delivers the same in-person sportsbook experience in a smaller, more relaxed setting. It includes a full casino floor with slots and table games, a hotel, and dining options. It is the most convenient option for bettors in the far western counties and visitors crossing from neighboring states.

3. Catawba Two Kings Casino (Kings Mountain)

Operated by the Catawba Nation in Kings Mountain, west of Charlotte, Two Kings opened its sportsbook in 2022 and is the most accessible retail option for the state’s largest metro area. The property has grown in phases and offers slots, table games, and in-person sports betting, making it the go-to land-based destination for Charlotte-area bettors.

4. Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte): Authorized, Not Yet Open

Home of the NFL Carolina Panthers and MLS Charlotte FC, this downtown Charlotte stadium qualifies under House Bill 347 to host one of the eight authorized venue sportsbooks. A sportsbook here would put in-person betting in the heart of the state’s biggest sports market. It had not opened as of 2026 but remains a leading candidate.

5. Charlotte Motor Speedway (Concord): Authorized, Not Yet Open

This NASCAR motorsports facility qualifies to host a venue sportsbook under the law’s motorsports provision. Given North Carolina’s deep NASCAR roots, a sportsbook at the speedway would be a natural fit for race-day betting. Like the other venue locations, it had not opened as of 2026.

Underdog Sports (Exited December 2025)

Underdog stopped accepting sports bets in North Carolina at the end of the day on December 16, 2025, and fully ceased sportsbook operations on December 17, 2025. North Carolina was the only state where Underdog ran a traditional sportsbook, so this exit ended its entire United States sportsbook business.

The reason was strategic, not financial trouble. Underdog is pivoting away from traditional sports betting and toward prediction markets through a partnership with a federally regulated exchange. It pulled out of Missouri just days before that state’s launch for the same reason. State regulators said Underdog informed them before Thanksgiving that it had made a business decision to leave. Underdog still offers daily fantasy sports contests in North Carolina and plans to bring its prediction market product to the state. The company honored all open wagers, settled pending futures as wins, and left customer balances withdrawable. Underdog had gained its North Carolina market access through a partnership with Sedgefield Country Club.

ESPN BET (Rebranded to theScore Bet, December 2025)

ESPN BET is no longer available in North Carolina, but it did not shut down. In December 2025, parent company PENN Entertainment ended its licensing deal with ESPN and rebranded the sportsbook to theScore Bet in every legal state, including North Carolina. The underlying license, the market access through the Quail Hollow Club, and existing customer accounts all transferred. So while the ESPN BET name is gone, the operator continues under the theScore Bet brand, and former ESPN BET customers now use theScore Bet.

What an Exit Means for License Slots

When an operator leaves, its license does not automatically open a slot for a new company. North Carolina has awarded eight licenses to date out of a possible twelve, and as of early 2026 regulators had announced no plans to issue new ones. That means the market could grow again in the future, but for now it sits at seven active books.

North Carolina Sports Betting Handle and Revenue

The betting handle is the total amount of money wagered with legal sportsbooks over a given period. It counts every dollar staked before any winnings are paid out. Handle is not the sportsbook’s revenue. Revenue equals handle minus payouts, and the hold, or win rate, is revenue divided by handle. For example, if bettors stake 200 million dollars and sportsbooks pay out 188 million dollars, revenue is 12 million dollars and the hold is 6 percent.

North Carolina’s market has consistently beaten projections. The state does not release revenue figures for individual operators, only market totals. The table below shows the broad performance across the first two full calendar years of online betting. Figures are approximate and are updated as the commission publishes new monthly reports.

Detailed History

For decades, a federal law called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA, effectively banned sports betting in most of the country. In North Carolina, the only legal wagering was on certain approved tribal lands. That changed in May 2018, when the United States Supreme Court struck down PASPA in Murphy versus NCAA, returning the decision to individual states.

North Carolina moved first on the tribal front. In July 2019, Governor Cooper signed Senate Bill 154, which classified sports and horse racing betting as Class III gaming allowed at tribal casinos. The bill was deliberately narrow. Co-sponsors framed it not as legalizing sports betting broadly, but simply as adding it to the list of games allowed at the casinos. It did not legalize online betting.

Implementation was slower than expected because it depended on the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians amending their gaming compact with the state. The Bureau of Indian Affairs signed off on the amended compact in early March 2021, and the first legal retail bet was placed shortly after at Harrah’s Cherokee. A third tribal sportsbook, Catawba Two Kings Casino, opened in 2022.

The push for online betting was harder. Lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 688 in 2021, which passed the Senate but stalled. Companion legislation in 2022 amended the bill heavily, but it failed a House vote by a single vote, with both anti-poverty progressives and social conservatives opposing it. College betting was a major sticking point.

Lawmakers regrouped in 2023 with House Bill 347, a measure resembling the prior year’s effort. The House passed it in March 2023, the Senate passed an amended version, the House agreed to the changes on a 68 to 45 vote in June, and Governor Cooper signed it on June 14, 2023.

The commission then spent the back half of 2023 writing rules and processing applications. A key rule required each operator to partner with an in-state sports team, venue, or tribe. In late February 2024, the commission awarded eight operator licenses, and the market launched at noon on March 11, 2024, timed to land just before the ACC men’s basketball tournament and March Madness. Governor Cooper placed the first ceremonial bet on the Carolina Hurricanes to win the Stanley Cup, pledging any winnings to charity.

The market took nearly 24 million dollars in bets on its first day and would go on to handle more than 13 billion dollars in two years. The operator lineup shifted in December 2025, when Underdog left the sportsbook business and PENN rebranded ESPN BET to theScore Bet, bringing the active total to seven.

The Regulator

The North Carolina State Lottery Commission is the primary regulator for online sports betting. It was first created in 2005 under the North Carolina State Lottery Act and was given authority over sports wagering by House Bill 347. The commission licenses operators, writes the rules, monitors compliance, runs the statewide self-exclusion program, and publishes monthly revenue reports. The retail tribal sportsbooks are regulated separately by the Cherokee Tribal Gaming Commission.

Licenses and Taxes

The law authorizes up to 12 online operator licenses and up to eight retail venue licenses. Each operator license carries a 1 million dollar fee and is valid for five years. Service provider licenses cost 50,000 dollars and supplier licenses cost 30,000 dollars. Operators pay an 18 percent tax on gross wagering revenue and cannot deduct promotional credits from their taxable revenue. Tax proceeds are directed by statute to specific purposes, including problem gambling programs, youth and amateur sports, and collegiate athletic departments at state universities. For individual bettors, winnings are subject to North Carolina state income tax of 4.5 percent plus applicable federal taxes.

Consumer Protection Measures

North Carolina’s law requires licensed operators to protect bettors in concrete ways. Operators must verify the age, identity, and location of every customer. They must maintain a financial reserve of at least 500,000 dollars, or enough to cover all outstanding customer liabilities, whichever is greater. They must use commercially reasonable methods to protect confidential information, establish procedures to detect suspicious or illegal wagering, and honor withdrawal requests within five days unless they have a good-faith belief the customer engaged in fraud or violated the law.

Security Standards

Licensed sportsbooks must maintain internal security controls approved by the commission, undergo an annual third-party security audit, notify the commission of any security breach within 72 hours, and offer customers the option to enable multi-factor authentication on their accounts.

Dispute Resolution

Operators must establish clear procedures for resolving customer disputes and display how to submit a dispute, how the operator will respond, and how to escalate a dispute to the commission. They must respond to disputes in writing within 10 days or seek an extension, provide detailed written explanations when denying a dispute, and report unresolved disputes to the commission. This regulated path is the single biggest practical difference between a licensed book and an offshore site.

Responsible Gambling Requirements

Operators must submit responsible gambling plans for approval before launch, establish procedures to identify and respond to problem gambling, train employees, and prevent self-excluded and involuntarily excluded individuals from betting. They cannot extend credit to customers or market micro-loans or short-term cash loans. They must offer self-exclusion and let customers set daily, weekly, and monthly deposit and wagering limits. The commission also runs a statewide voluntary self-exclusion program covering all licensed sportsbooks.

Who Cannot Bet

The law bars certain people from wagering, including anyone under 21, anyone located outside North Carolina, anyone betting on behalf of someone else, members and employees of the commission, employees of licensed operators, self-excluded and involuntarily excluded individuals, athletes, coaches, trainers, officials, and staff betting on the sports they are associated with, and league employees betting on events their league governs.

Account Registration Requirements

To open an account, you must provide your full legal name, date of birth, residential address, and Social Security number or its last four digits, plus any other information needed to verify your identity. This is part of the Know Your Customer process required of every licensed book.

What You Can and Cannot Bet On

North Carolina allows wagering on professional, college, amateur, and electronic sports, plus other events approved by the commission. Prohibited bets include youth sports, the outcome of replay reviews, injuries and penalties within a game, disciplinary proceedings, and non-sporting events such as political races and award shows.

Official North Carolina Resources

• North Carolina State Lottery Commission: nclottery.com
• North Carolina sports betting regulator (gaming): ncgaming.gov
• Full text of House Bill 347 (Session Law 2023-42): ncleg.gov (PDF)
• Chapter 18C, Article 9 of the General Statutes: ncleg.gov
• NC sports betting rules and compliance: ncgaming.gov/rules-and-compliance
• North Carolina Department of Revenue, Sports Wagering: ncdor.gov/sports-wagering
• North Carolina problem gambling resources: morethanagame.nc.gov

Professional Sports

All major leagues are covered, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and more, along with golf, tennis, boxing, mixed martial arts, and motorsports such as NASCAR, Formula 1, and IndyCar.

College Sports

North Carolina permits betting on in-state and out-of-state college teams, including the state’s marquee programs. Some individual college player props have been restricted following pressure from the NCAA, and a full prop ban remains under legislative consideration.

Esports and Amateur Sports

Electronic sports are legal and explicitly defined in the law as organized video game competitions played for prizes, money, or entertainment. Amateur sporting events are also allowed, along with any other event the commission approves.

Prohibited Markets

You cannot bet on youth sports, the outcome of replay reviews, injuries or penalties within a game, disciplinary proceedings, or non-sporting events such as political races and award shows.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily fantasy sports contests are widely available in North Carolina from all major operators. Technically, DFS sits in a legal gray area. Lawmakers have considered bills to formally legalize, tax, and regulate fantasy sports but turned their focus to sports betting first. State law neither authorizes nor prohibits DFS, so operators continue to serve residents.

Prediction Markets

Prediction markets are available to North Carolina users and have grown quickly. These platforms let users trade event contracts on sports as well as on financial markets, elections, and the weather. They operate under federal commodities regulation rather than state gambling law, which is why operators like Underdog have pivoted toward them.

Horse Racing Betting

Horse racing betting is legal and regulated thanks to the 2019 and 2023 laws, but it is not yet live. The 2019 law authorized tribal casinos to accept in-person wagers, but none currently offer simulcast betting, and no major online racebooks have launched in the state, likely due to high licensing fees.

Online Casino and Poker

Real-money online casino gaming and online poker are not legal in North Carolina, and lawmakers have shown little interest in changing that. The closest legal alternatives are sweepstakes casinos, which operate under promotional sweepstakes law. Live poker is rare in the state, with the Harrah’s Cherokee casinos home to the only legal poker rooms.

The Lottery

North Carolina sold its first lottery ticket in 2006 and now offers draw games, scratch-offs, and digital instant games. Residents 18 and older can buy tickets online or through the official app for games including Powerball, Mega Millions, Millionaire For Life, Carolina Pick 3, Carolina Pick 4, and Carolina Cash 5.