North Carolina Sports Wagering Licensing and Age Rules

S. Chapter 18C, Article 9. The North Carolina State Lottery Commission regulates the market, which opened to bettors on March 11, 2024. § 18C-902(a) states that 'sports wagering on sporting events as authorized by this Article shall not be considered unlawful,' overriding the state's general gambling ban in Article 37 of Chapter 14. Two forms of legal wagering exist: interactive (mobile/online) accounts and retail wagering at licensed 'places of public accommodation', arenas, motorsports facilities, and similar professional sports venues under § 18C-926. § 18C-904 requires a license application with a $1,000,000 fee, a minimum $500,000 reserve fund, and a background investigation; operating without a license is itself a crime.

Every interactive operator must verify through geofencing that a registered player is physically in North Carolina and not on tribal land, per §§ 18C-902 and 18C-912. Wagering is barred for anyone under 21, Commission members and staff, sportsbook employees betting with their own operator, and athletes or officials wagering on their own competitions. Betting on youth sports and on injury occurrences, penalty calls, or replay-review outcomes is also prohibited under § 18C-902 and § 18C-914's integrity-monitoring provisions. § 18C-922 requires operators to run a voluntary self-exclusion program for problem gamblers.

Fantasy sports contests scored on player statistics are expressly exempted from the licensing scheme. Net wagering proceeds, after Commission expenses, flow to the state's General Fund under § 18C-909.

Offering or accepting sports wagers without an interactive or retail license, per G.S. § 18C-918(a), is a Class 2 misdemeanor, as is placing a wager while under 21 under § 18C-918(b). Knowingly influencing a sporting event's outcome to affect wagering is a Class G felony under § 18C-918(c), while lying on a license application is a Class I felony under § 18C-918(d). Operators and service providers cannot be prosecuted under (a) or (c) without actual notice of the violation, per § 18C-918(e).