Latest States to Legalize Sports Betting

One by one, the dominoes are falling all over the U.S. as it relates to sports betting. According to usalegalbetting.com, more than half of states have already legalized sports betting in some form with more joining the long list. North Carolina and Vermont are the latest states to come on board after each passed laws to legalize sports betting.

In-person sports betting has been legal in North Carolina since 2021. However, that betting was limited to just three casinos, all on land owned by the Cherokee tribe. That will soon change after Governor Roy Cooper signed a bill on June 14 that will legalize online sports betting in the Tar Heel State.

The bill, titled HB 347, was filed on March 3 and approved by the North Carolina House of Representatives on March 28. After spending time in multiple committees, HB 347 was passed in the North Carolina Senate on June 1 with Governor Cooper signing it on June 14. Two days later, the North Carolina Education Lottery launched a sports betting web page to help educate the citizens of North Carolina on sports betting.

According to the bill, online sports betting will launch in North Carolina no later than one year after the bill was signed into law. However, North Carolina has set a tentative launch date of January 8, 2024. In addition to Cherokee casinos, HB 347 will now allow brick-and-mortar sports betting at the eight major sports venues in North Carolina, including Bank of America Stadium and Charlotte Motor Speedway. North Carolina will also allow up to 12 different online sportsbooks to operate. While no sportsbook has officially launched in North Carolina, DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel are already lining up to be among the first to launch.

Meanwhile, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed a bill to legalize sports betting in his state on June 14, the same day that Governor Cooper signed HB 347 in North Carolina. Vermont’s H.127 became the first sports betting bill to pass the Vermont House of Representatives after previous efforts fell short. The Vermont Senate made some alterations to the bill, and after those changes were approved by the House of Representatives, the door was open for Governor Scott to sign the bill, which he did on June 14.

At the moment, there is an expected launch date for sports betting in Vermont in January 2024. The state will approve between two and six online sportsbooks for a license, making the process a little more competitive than in other states for sportsbooks that want to do business in Vermont. It’s also worth noting that H.127 prohibits brick-and-mortar sportsbooks from operating in Vermont, so mobile sports betting will be the only option. There will also be limitations when it comes to betting on Vermont college teams unless they are playing in out-of-state tournaments.

Once North Carolina and Vermont officially launch mobile sports betting in early 2024, there will be 38 states – plus Washington D.C. – where sports betting is legal and operational. Among the states that have yet to legalize it, the wheels are in motion in several states. One by one, the dominoes of legal sports betting continue to fall with North Carolina and Vermont being the latest.