By a single vote, NC House shoots down legal sports betting in North Carolina, for now
Sports betting will remain prohibited in North Carolina — at least for the time being — following a dramatic series of votes at the legislature Wednesday night.
By a single vote, the North Carolina House approved a bill to legalize sports betting Wednesday night but then shot down a separate bill. The bill that passed was contingent on the other bill’s passage to become law. With the second bill failing, sports betting is a no-go.
The convoluted series of events Wednesday leaves supporters of betting with a question of strategy: Do they try to make some changes and win over the one vote they need? Or do they wait until after this year’s elections, either in a lame duck session this winter, or in 2023, when there will be new lawmakers in office?
“We may end up with a bill before the end of session that will serve for sports betting,” said Rep. Jason Saine, a Lincolnton Republican who’s the main proponent of the bill, moments after the votes were cast. “Don’t know yet.”
The reason for the confusion is that there are two sports betting bills advancing at the legislature: SB 688, the original bill, and SB 38, the new bill that’s a vehicle for making amendments to the original bill.
SB 688 already passed the Senate, but on Wednesday it failed to pass the House in a vote of 50-51.
However, the Senate has not yet passed SB 38. That’s the one that passed the House Wednesday, by a vote of 51-50.
The new bill contains a number of changes that the House proposed in the last few days — including new rules that betting would remain banned on college and amateur sports, plus higher taxes and fees on gambling companies so that the state would make more money if it did legalize sports betting.
Saine said the fight isn’t over, though, despite the dramatic loss in the vote Wednesday.
“Sports wagering is going to remain an issue for the state of North Carolina,” Saine said. “Because all of the states around us are doing it ... we’ll continue to lose money to other states.”
The politics of gambling
There was bipartisan support and opposition to the bills, with Republicans and Democrats who rarely agree on hot-button issues finding themselves with unexpected allies in their fight for or against the bill.
Speaking in support were members of opposite parties, like Democratic Rep. Wesley Harris of Charlotte and Republican Rep. John Szoka of Fayetteville.
Supporters cited the financial windfall betting would bring to the state’s tax revenues, as well as the general trend that other states have been moving in, also legalizing sports betting in recent years following a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for it.
But Republican Rep. Larry Pittman of Concord and Democratic Rep. Pricey Harrison of Greensboro, who are among the most far-right and far-left politicians in the legislature respectively, both gave impassioned speeches against the bill.
Opponents have cited the social ills of gambling addiction, with some adding that they oppose the state lottery for similar reasons.
“I know for sure that at least half of us have changed our minds once, twice or even three times, maybe even during the course of this debate,” said Wilmington Democratic Rep. Deb Butler, who opposed both bills, during an hours-long debate on the bill Wednesday night.
Many lawmakers from both parties skipped the vote altogether.
Of the state’s 120 House members, both bills only had 101 total votes in either direction. Some lawmakers didn’t come to Raleigh at all, while others stepped out of the chamber as the votes were being called so that they wouldn’t go on the record one way or the other.
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 8:48 PM with the headline "By a single vote, NC House shoots down legal sports betting in North Carolina, for now."
