The launch of online sports betting sites in the Tar Heel State is creeping closer as regulators in North Carolina continue to do the drudge work necessary to license and oversee mobile operators.
Members of a North Carolina State Lottery Commission committee met Wednesday and, among other things, voted to recommend the regulator approve a rulemaking process to help implement the mobile component of legal sports betting in the state.
That process lays out the policy and procedure the commission will follow as it tries to get the online side of North Carolina sports betting and pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing off the ground. The state already has in-person sports betting at three tribal casinos, but online sportsbooks await authorization.
“When it comes to adopting, amending, or repealing rules, the commission is the decider," noted Eric Snider, deputy general counsel for the NC lottery, during Wednesday’s meeting. "You all set those policies for our regulated public and dictate how staff is going to conduct these processes."
Baby steps
The approval was a small but necessary step toward launching mobile sports betting in North Carolina. By law, wagering can only begin in the state starting in early January but no later than June 14 of next year, giving the regulator a six-month window. The new legal landscape for sports betting in North Carolina could include as many as 12 operators of mobile sites and apps and retail sportsbooks at or near professional sports venues.
However, there is reportedly a budget proposal afoot that could rejig the licensing process in North Carolina (where the governor only signed its sports-betting bill into law in June) and hand more control to professional sports organizations in the state.
Under that proposal, sportsbook operators must partner with the teams and facility owners to access the state rather than applying for standalone permits.
Still, the proposal is not yet law. Members of the lottery commission committee made no mention of it during their meeting on Wednesday either.
Time is of the essence
Meanwhile, the process advanced by the committee includes provisions for notifying the public and stakeholders about proposed rules (such as through an email distribution list) and instances in which staffers can make small changes without full commission approval.
“Implementation and rapid implementation to meet our deadlines is very important,” Snider said. “We've tried to incorporate into this proposed policy a great deal of flexibility, so that the commission can be responsive to the statutory deadlines and move things forward in an expedited fashion, to bring our authorized wagering to market in a responsible way.”
