Jeremy Elbaum, the online sportsbook’s Chief Commercial Officer, told Covers during Monday’s online sports betting launch event at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte that a state with so many major professional sports and a love for college teams made for an ideal market for DraftKings.
“That made it a high priority for myself, the team, and obviously working with the state itself,” Elbaum said. “It’s unique here in the sense of how big it is and how well-rounded it is.”
North Carolina, which became the 31st U.S. jurisdiction to offer online sports betting, is the 10th largest state, a huge market for DraftKings.
Elbaum compared the Tar Heel State’s college sports passion to Kentucky, where DraftKings launched in Sept. 2023.
But North Carolina also has the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, MLS’ Charlotte F.C., and NASCAR.
“There’s not that many states that really have every sports team,” Elbaum said.
A long road
Getting into the Tar Heel State took a considerable amount of time and work. The N.C. legislature needed multiple sessions to get sports betting passed and legalized last summer. Then having the state’s lottery commission build the proper wagering infrastructure from scratch, something Kentucky already had with horse racing, was important to regulators and sportsbook operators.
Elbaum said DraftKings was willing to do what it took to check all of North Carolina’s compliance and licensing boxes. The market will be worth the wait.
“This was a big one,” Elbaum said. “We’re going to enjoy this one.”
Is the Peach State next?
With the Tar Heel State up and running, DraftKings turns its attention to other markets.
“We’re going to look at Georgia,” Elbaum said. “We’re going to look at Missouri. We’re going to keep marching along.”
Elbaum compared Georgia to North Carolina in how there is progress in the process and then pauses, but the goal is to get it done.
The Peach State’s legislature is wrestling with how to get sports betting through without having to amend the state’s constitution, a roadblock in the process.
Last month, Georgia senators proposed taking sports betting to the voters.
“We had a lot of success this year (in Georgia) moving forward,” Elbaum said. “It will be something similar there, but we’re cautiously optimistic.
Eyeing Missouri
As for Missouri, the battle between getting legislation passed continues in 2024 with House Bill 2331. A pro sports coalition that formed a PAC is receiving contributions from DraftKings and FanDuel to fund a petition that with 180,000 signatures could get sports betting in front of voters in November.
“I think we’re getting closer, another year or two,” Elbaum said. “We’re moving in the right direction and then we’ll go from there.”
