North Carolina Senator Introduces Sports Betting Legislation

The US could experience a proper surge of states with regulated sports betting this year. West Virginia, Arizona and Connecticut are among the latest to embark on this path and now they seem to be ed by another Eastern state – North Carolina!

According to reports, North Carolina State Senate senior member has introduced a legislative piece that looks to legalize wagering on professional and college sport events.

Should it find the necessary approval – and a matching quickness of reaction by the authorities – sportsbooks in NC could start their engines as early as this summer.

Vouched For by the Tribes

Senate Bill 154’s sponsor is the 72-year-old Republican, Jim Davis…

…whose measure, filed in last Wednesday, was ed wholeheartedly by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

This is Davis’ (who is serving his fifth term as North Carolina State Senator) third bill that he has ever introduced, that has any relation to gambling – in case it es, it would permit the addition of sports betting to Class III services the tribe is already offering in Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel.

Online is A No-Go

Under Bill 154’s , sports betting would be only allowed inside two Cherokee Indians’ venues…

…at least until some point when an amendment is introduced that could expand this. However, another thing to note is that online and mobile wagering  on sports is NOT authorized by the legislation. This particular restriction is Davis’ deed because, as he says, the tribes are not interested in online and mobile platforms at the present moment.

“A Small Addendum”

As far as the Bill’s legislative process goes, no opposition is expected – or, at least, it is going to be a very modest one according to Davis himself.

Calling sports betting “a genie that is already out of a bottle,” he reasons:

“I know some people won’t vote for [Senate Bill 154] because they have moral objections to wagering but I don’t think it will be many. I’m not a fan of it myself but it’s a legal enterprise and people aren’t forced to do it so the libertarian in me says to have at it. You’re not going to un-ring that bell because [the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians] already has casinos. This is just a small addendum to what [the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians] is already doing.”

Strange Case of Arizona

In Arizona, Senate Bill 1163 is out to do the exact same thing as North Carolina’s…

…and it’s even identical in the sense that it authorizes Indian tribes only to operate sportsbooks.

However:

All of Arizona’s tribes but one – Navajo Nation – have refused to the said bill, saying that “Bill 1163 is not the appropriate mechanism for legal sports betting in Arizona.”

Source:

“NC Sports Betting Bill Appears At Tribe’s Request, Without Mobile Wagering”, Matthew Kredell, legalsportsreport.com, February 28, 2019.