North Carolina sports betting applications continue to pile up

Two new operators, both North Carolina tribes, have applied for sports betting licenses in the Tar Heel State.

The Catawba Two Kings Casino and Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise Cherokee are the two newest applicants for a sports betting license in North Carolina. Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise Cherokee will likely partner with Caesars Sportsbook to run its sports betting if it receives a license.

Nine total operators have applied for a sports betting license as the state rolls towards a yet announced launch date.

Tribes currently offer retail sports betting

Sterl Carpenter, Deputy Executive Director Gaming Compliance and Sports Betting for the Lottery Commission, announced the two new applicants during today’s Lottery Commission meeting.

Both the Catawba Two Kings Casino and Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise Cherokee have sports betting experience in the state. Both tribes currently offer retail sports betting at their tribal casinos. The approved sports betting bill allows the tribes to apply for an online sports betting license.

Caesars Sportsbook currently runs Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise Cherokee’s brick-and-mortar sportsbook and will likely take over its online sports betting services as well.

Neither applicant has announced its sports betting market access partner. Every applicant must have a valid partnership with either a North Carolina sports franchise, official sports organization (such as the PGA or NASCAR), arena, or PGA Tour golf course.

This new brings the total applicants to operate in the North Carolina sports betting space up to nine. The applicants and their market access partnerships are as follows:

Launch date dependent upon operators

Carpenter said a sports betting launch date depends on how adept the applicants are at obtaining their certificates of compliance from the North Carolina Lottery Commission. The Lottery Commission set a deadline of Jan. 26 for the applicants to submit their internal controls, a key part of obtaining the necessary certificates of compliance.

The quicker the operators receive their certificates of compliance, the quicker online sports betting can begin in North Carolina. Carpenter noted that each of the applicants are well aware of this part of the process from becoming licensed in other states and have all likely started working on the necessary requirements.

Once the state officially flips the switch, North Carolina sports betting promos will be available for new players as they begin signing up with sportsbooks.