What The New North Carolina Sports Betting Law Means For You

The North Carolina Lottery Commission has cleared the way for mobile sports betting to begin March 11.  Here's what North Carolina's new mobile betting law means for you.

Legal sports betting has been a long time coming for the Tarheel State.  A bill legalizing sports betting was passed by the NC General Assembly last summer.  Officials have been working since then to smoothly enact the legalization of sports wagering.  There is still work to be done, as spots betting licenses have not yet been awarded to interested gambling operations.

Lottery commissioners ruled Wednesday that betting can begin just in time for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, aka March Madness.

"The plan approved today means that North Carolinians will be able to place bets on their favorite teams in many of this year's college basketball conference tournaments, including men's tournaments in the ACC, Conference USA, the MEAC, and the AAC, as well as throughout the men's and women's NCAA tournaments," Lottery commission chair Ripley Rand said in a statement.   "Bets on sporting events have been made for as long as those events have taken place, but this time they will be legal, they will be done securely and fairly, and they will be made under rules designed to encourage responsible gaming."