WILMINGTON, N.C. — Legal online sports bettering is set to kick off March 11. This comes more than seven months after the law legalizing online sports betting for the state was signed.
In that time, the N.C. State Lottery Commission has worked to establish rules and regulations. It’s also received applications from sports betting operators. It’s an exciting update for those who will be placing bets as well as for the many sports bars across the state.
Jerry Allen’s Sports Bar and Grill (also known as Katy’s) is one of Wilmington’s many bars where you can grab a drink, a hot meal and watch a variety of sports on the big screens.
Cole Lochman, the general manager, says the bar gets crowded on the weekends as people come in to watch their favorite teams. He hopes that come March, it will be even busier.
“I think it’s going to bring in a lot more people, they’re going to be more inclined to watch the sports,” Lochman said. “Some people have their favorite teams, but now, if they have money on them, then every team can be their favorite team.”
North Carolina is now one of the states where online sports betting is legal, and people can start placing bets as soon as March 11 — right before the ACC men’s basketball tournament and about a week before March Madness begins.
“I think that’s super exciting,” Lochman said. “I think they can put their money where they want it and maybe hopefully win some money.”
Although you can’t place bets at sports bars, you can go through licensed betting operators and legally bet online. Lochman says he expects that to bring in more business as well as pumped-up crowds.
“So you can go through any app,” Lochman said. “And then they can meet up here and improve the atmosphere that way.”
Once betting is up and running, if you’re at least 21 years old, you’ll be able to place bets on pro, college or Olympic-style sports. You can start setting up an account with a licensed operator and depositing money on March 1.
It’s not yet known which operators will be up and running on launch day, but nine are going through the approval process.
All of the applicants have partnered with either pro teams, leagues or venues in our state, which is a requirement for being awarded a license by the Lottery Commission for online sports betting.