The Governor of North Carolina signed into law Bill 154, which allows Indian Tribes to offer sports and horse wagering. There are currently only two locations that qualify for this activity, Harrah’s Cherokee and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River.
The legalization of sports betting is limited to these physical locations for the time being but may develop into some sort of online betting as well. As of now, there are 17 states which have legalized sports betting to some degree.
The tribes believe that they can make as much as $14m+ per year from this new offering, which means about $1m – $1.5M for the state of North Carolina.
Residents of North Carolina will be allowed to bet on in-state sports teams, something that is forbidden in many other states. The fear is that sports betting on local teams will create a temptation for unscrupulous people to try to fix games. There is no evidence that this will happen.
