THERESA OPEKA
Carolina Journal
Sports betting is off to a strong and smooth start in North Carolina. During a meeting Wednesday of the Sports Betting Committee of the North Carolina State Lottery Commission, Sterl Carpenter, deputy executive director of gaming compliance and sports betting, told the committee that all reports from the eight operators that went live on March 11 have been positive.
“While we continue to process applications, we are turning our focus here to monitoring and compliance items,” he said. “Sports betting has just begun, and we think that it has gotten off on a very positive note. We will have more information to report to this committee and the commission on a regular basis as we move forward.”
He said a large amount of wages were placed, and they are still tallying all the information and hopes to have an update soon.
According to BetCarolina, 1 in 6 North Carolinians plan on betting once a week, based on a survey the website did of 1,000 residents.
The same survey showed that 15% of North Carolina residents currently engage in sports betting, and 14% say they travel across state lines to place bets in Tennessee or Virginia.
The website also projects that over $6.4 billion is expected to be wagered by residents this year on sports betting.
The committee also approved commencing the rulemaking process on the third set of wagering rules and issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. They include the following:
◦ Eliminated use of “Wagering Lounge” for “Wagering Facility.”
◦ Returned/Insufficient payments basis for discipline or denial.
◦ International criminal history record checks triggered by residency.
◦ Failure to comply with NCDOR requirements basis for discipline or denial.
◦ Addressed conflict of interest for hearing officers in our disciplinary process.
◦ Financial Institutions used to hold reserve must be authorized to do business in NC.
◦ Clarified treatment of seized winnings from voluntary excluded players.
◦ Facility rule additions for equipment list, key inventory, surveillance system malfunction, and security retention and cooperation requirements.
The process also contains two new proposed rules. The first one sets a deadline for licensees to respond to a formal letter of inquiry from the commission. It most likely will be used in investigations where there are specific questions and possible requests for documents from licensees. The rule also sets out a deadline for responses to those letters.
The second rule addresses the inspection of wagering facilities, both pre-operational and subsequent inspections.
The proposed rule updates and new provisions have a proposed effective date of 30 days after the commission’s adoption.
The commission will accept public comments on the rules through April 19.
The public can submit comments on the rules in a few different ways.
They can comment in person at a public hearing on April 9 at 9 am at the lottery commission’s headquarters, 2728 Capital Boulevard, Suite 144, Raleigh, NC 27604. People who want to comment at the hearing must register to speak at least one day before the hearing via the web portal at this link.
They can also submit comments using a webform or by emailing comments to publiccomment@ncgaming.gov, along with the person’s name, contact information, business or organization (if applicable), and the rule numbers on which they want to comment.
You can go to the commission’s sports betting website for more information.
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