3 things to expect if online sports gambling becomes legal in North Carolina
If North Carolina legalizes online sports gambling, here’s what sports bettors can expect initially:
Offers from betting sites
• A frenzy of offers from the sites trying to entice new customers, including sign-up bonuses such as a 50% bonus on your initial deposit. They’ll also offer enhanced odds, no-lose wagers where they’ll give new customers their money back in site credit if they lose and near-lock bets, such as LeBron James to score at least one point.
When Virginia first legalized sports wagering, sites offered all the above. FanDuel offered special bets where the more users who bet on a team, the more the point spread would grow.
“This will be considered by sports bettors, whether avid or casual, 2021, 2022 will be considered as the salad days given the very generous promotions that operators have been giving,” said Bill Ordine, a writer with Gambling.com Group, who covers the legal, legislative and business issues around sports wagering.
Such bonuses or offers are needed to entice customers to their site — and, perhaps, away from their current off-shore account or other methods of placing bets. Plus, there is competition for market share among the 10 to 12 online companies that will be licensed in North Carolina.
“If you have a legal option or an illegal option, which one are you going to choose?” said Ches McDowell, a lobbyist for the Hornets who has been working on the sports wagering bill.
Sponsorships with NFL, NHL, MLS and NCAA teams
• Sponsorship agreements and partnerships between online gambling sites and professional teams and venues in the state.
The NBA, NHL, NFL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer all have partnerships with at least one sports betting company. Individual teams have partnerships as well with betting companies.
In August, the NBA loosened restrictions on teams having sponsorships with betting companies, according to the Sports Business Journal. A 2021 study found that $400 million was committed to leagues and teams, with the NFL getting the most.
Caesars signed a 20-year deal with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints to rename their home stadium, the Caesars Superdome. The deal was valued at $138 million, according to reports. Caesars owns a casino in New Orleans.
Michigan State signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Caesars Sportsbook that makes the company the official and exclusive sports betting partner of Michigan State athletics. There will be signage at Michigan State football, basketball and hockey games as well as naming rights for premium seating areas in the football stadium.
Colorado (PointsBet) and LSU (Caesars Sportsbook) have also signed deals with sports betting companies.
Carolina Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said the franchise has been contacted by nearly every major gambling company. Additional sponsorships could lead to advertising in the building and more hockey-related revenue for a franchise in a smaller market.
“There’s certainly an appetite. I don’t think there’s huge dollars,” Waddell said.
More ads. More ads. More ads.
• Even more television, radio and digital ads.
It’s already hard to avoid ads for sports wagering sites when you’re watching a game. But if online sports betting becomes legal in North Carolina, sports fans can expect to see even more of it.
Sports betting operators were expected to spend $1 billion in advertising during the 2021 football season, which culminates Feb. 13 in the Super Bowl. The NFL allowed up to six commercials for sportsbooks per game this season.
“Is it annoying? Is it too much? It is an unsustainable thing,” said Bill Miller, president of the American Gaming Association, at an international sports betting conference in New Jersey in December, according to The Associated Press.
Some European countries have instituted limits, according to the AP, with teams in the U.K. not allowed to air sports betting ads during the “whistle-to-whistle” broadcast of their games, Italy banning all gambling ads since 2019 and Spain banning sportsbooks from advertising on player jerseys or stadium names.
This story was originally published January 30, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "3 things to expect if online sports gambling becomes legal in North Carolina."
