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North Carolina recently became the 17th US state to officially legalise sports betting. The two tribal casinos of the state, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel both owned by Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will soon offer legal sports betting services, after signing of S154, one of the two important bills, by Gov Roy Cooper recently.
The second bill, related to mobile betting services, stays in a state of flux and will come up for discussion after gathering of intelligence related to the proposed service. All wagers as of now will be placed only on location, without the need of any royalty/integrity fee. Punters will now be able to make use of free sports picks available on the Internet and place profitable bets on the sports of their liking, within the state itself.
The unavailability of mobile betting on the other hand seems puzzling to many, considering the low estimated revenue from the two casinos. The figures suggest that the two establishments will generate revenues in the vicinity of $ 14 million per annum, from which the state will get a little less than $ 1 million.
When will the service become operational?
Talking about when people will be able to place legal sports bets at these two casinos, it has been learnt that they won’t be ready in time for the football season, however will accept bets by the time NFL play-offs and the college football games begin. Now that the concerned bill has been passed, the casino officials will start adding the infrastructure for the bookmaking services.
Harrah’s Regional Vice President, Marketing, Brian Saunooke recently told the press that they are targeting late fall for the opening of the sports books. The two of the Harrah’s casinos are operational on the Cherokee tribal lands in Cherokee, west of Asheville and Murphy, close to the Tennessee border.
It should be noted that the newly implemented law restricts the betting activity on horse racing and sports, only at those two locations. As highlighted above, since mobile betting isn’t allowed as yet, the punter should be present on location at any of these two casinos. Saunooke informed that the casinos are planning to offer a wide range of betting services on many different sports.
Talking to the press, Saunooke further stated, “By late fall, football will be in full swing. That’s an exciting time for sports bettors in general. We will be looking at other sports as well. We expect to have a full offering similar to what you would have in other markets, like Las Vegas.”
It comes into effect after one year of Supreme Court’s ruling
If you recall, the US Supreme Court had passed a ruling in May 2018, removing the nationwide ban on sports betting services outside of Nevada. Right at the time when that ban was removed, Eastern band of Cherokee had expressed their desire to add bookmaking services to their casinos.
The Supreme Court ruling had given the states the right to make their independent decisions regarding the sports betting services. While the North Carolina legislation was passed in the Senate in April this year, it became law after passing in the house on July 15.
