Early returns from North Carolina's sports betting launch indicate the state will be a competitive and potentially lucrative market according to GeoComply's review of the first 48 hours of legal wagering.
Geolocation specialist GeoComply tracked 5.4 million location checks from 370,000 active accounts between noon of 11 March and noon of 13 March.
This beats the two million checks from 134,000 active accounts in the first two days of live betting in neighbouring Virginia in 2021. North Carolina has a population of 10.8 million as compared to 8.8 million in Virginia.
On Monday (11 March) North Carolina regulators launched eight digital platforms for statewide mobile betting.
The majority of the location checks came from accounts in the central part of the state where the major cities, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham, form an upside down “U”.
The area is a hotbed of college basketball. As the college basketball season winds down and conference championships are in progress, North Carolina is currently ranked No 4 in the AP Top 25, while Duke is at No 11.
South Carolina is ranked No 15 and GeoComply performed 6,175 location checks in that state in the first 48 hours. Sports betting is not legal in South Carolina.
North Carolina betting launches with March Madness on horizon
“It’s early, but North Carolina is already delivering on lawmaker expectations when they legalised online sports betting last year,” Lindsay Slader, GeoComply’s SVP of compliance, said via press release.
“The state’s well-structured approach to mobile sports betting safeguards consumers and opens up significant revenue streams.”
Monday’s launch of online sports betting dovetails with college basketball’s biggest event. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament tips off this weekend with Selection Sunday and the first tournament games are set for 19 March.
Depending on how the conference championships play out, Wake Forest or UNC-Charlotte could also get into March Madness. North Carolina entered the ACC conference championships as the top seed. Duke is second and both play their first tournament game Thursday.
Every major national operator is now live in North Carolina when operators launched around noon local time. This includes a new competitor in Underdog Sports, after the daily fantasy operator made its digital sports betting debut.
Caesars Sportsbook was taking online bets in Indian Country through its partnership with the Eastern Band of Cherokees as early as 1 March.
