North Carolina Sports Betting Sites: Licensed NC Apps and Tax Rise

North Carolina sports betting sites have been live since March 11, 2024. The state’s seven licensed apps now take bets on everything from Panthers games to Duke-UNC. The headline change is fiscal. In June 2026, legislative budget negotiators agreed to raise the operator tax from 18% to 23%, putting North Carolina above New Jersey, Ohio and Massachusetts.

We cover the legal status, the licensed roster, what our partners can offer North Carolina players and where to find help.

North Carolina sports betting: legal status table

Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 347 in June 2023, legalizing online sports wagering and online pari-mutuel horse racing. The North Carolina Lottery Commission took on the regulator role.

Category	North Carolina status
Online sports betting	Legal, live since March 11, 2024
Online casino	Not legal
Sweepstakes casinos	No online sweepstakes ban
Prediction markets	Available on federally regulated platforms; no state enforcement action
Regulator	North Carolina Lottery Commission
Minimum age	21
Operator tax	18%, with a rise to 23% agreed in June 2026

Compare North Carolina with the rest of the field on our US betting hub.

Licensed North Carolina sportsbooks

The Lottery Commission’s approved licensees page lists seven interactive sports wagering operators:

App	Licensed entity	License
theScore Bet	Penn Sports Interactive, LLC	NCO-0001
DraftKings	Crown NC Gaming, LLC	NCO-0002
bet365	Hillside (North Carolina), LLC	NCO-0003
Fanatics Sportsbook	FBG Enterprises Opco, LLC	NCO-0004
FanDuel	Betfair Interactive US, LLC	NCO-0005
BetMGM	BetMGM, LLC	NCO-0007
Caesars Sportsbook	Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians	NCO-0008

Caesars is the odd one out. It operates under the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ license, the tribe behind Harrah’s Cherokee. The law allows up to 12 interactive licenses, so there is room for more.

Hard Rock Bet, our sportsbook partner in Ohio, Arizona and Colorado, is not licensed in North Carolina. AmWager lists the state as restricted for horse racing. That leaves sweepstakes casinos as the only partner products we can show here.

What North Carolina sportsbooks offer

The timing of the launch was no accident. Apps went live on March 11, 2024, days before March Madness, in a state where college basketball is close to a civic religion. Unlike some states, North Carolina lets you bet on in-state schools. Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest games all carry full markets on licensed apps.

The Lottery Commission approves the sports and leagues operators can offer. Expect the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports, soccer, golf, tennis and combat sports. NASCAR is there too, with deep roots in the state through Charlotte Motor Speedway.

• Local teams: the Panthers, Hurricanes, Hornets and Charlotte FC anchor the pro calendar.
• Live betting: available on the licensed apps, alongside player props on pro sports.
• Horse racing: HB 347 also authorized online pari-mutuel wagering through licensed advance deposit wagering operators, separate from the sportsbook licenses.
• Machine sports: drone racing and robot combat are not standard catalog items at licensed books. Our US drone betting guide tracks where those markets appear.

Why there are only seven apps

The law allows up to 12 interactive sportsbook licenses, and the first wave of apps launched together in March 2024. One early license number, NCO-0006, no longer appears on the commission’s list. Brands that operate in other states, including Hard Rock Bet, BetRivers and Bally Bet, have not gone live in North Carolina. The market is effectively the national majors plus Caesars’ tribal partnership.

Retail betting came first

North Carolina bettors could place sports bets in person well before the apps arrived. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opened sportsbooks at its Harrah’s Cherokee casinos in western North Carolina in 2021, under the tribe’s gaming compact. Those retail books still operate. Caesars Sportsbook, the tribe’s mobile partner, bridges the in-person and online markets.

Sweepstakes casinos for North Carolina players

North Carolina has not banned online sweepstakes casinos, and none of the four brands below excludes the state in its terms. They run on a two-currency model. Gold Coins are for play, and Sweeps Coins can be redeemed for prizes under each site’s rules.

Sweepstakes casinos available in North Carolina

RealPrize

Best for live dealer

Cash out from

100 SC

Gift card from

45 SC

Min age

18+

Play free at RealPrize

No purchase necessary · 18+/21+ Read review

NO

NoLimitCoins

Best for low gift-card minimum

Play free at NoLimitCoins

No purchase necessary · 18+/21+ Read review

Funrize

Best for tournaments

Get a 125,000 Coin Welcome Gift

Play free at Funrize

No purchase necessary · 18+/21+ Read review

FU

FunzCity

Best for daily bonuses

Play free at FunzCity

No purchase necessary · 18+/21+ Read review

No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. 18+ (21+ in some states). Sweepstakes coins are not real money gambling. Our sweepstakes legal states page tracks every brand’s restricted list.

Sweepstakes casinos vs licensed sportsbooks

The two products work very differently. A licensed sportsbook takes real-money bets under a Lottery Commission license, pays state tax and must offer the responsible gambling tools set by the regulator. A sweepstakes casino runs under promotional sweepstakes law. You play with Gold Coins that have no cash value, and with Sweeps Coins. Those can be obtained free and redeemed for prizes once you meet each site’s rules. The state does not license sweepstakes sites, so access can disappear quickly when a legislature acts, as it did in New Jersey, New York and California.

North Carolina betting timeline

• June 2023: Governor Roy Cooper signs House Bill 347.
• March 11, 2024: online sportsbooks go live, days before March Madness.
• June 2026: legislators agree to raise the operator tax from 18% to 23%.

NC betting law and tax changes

The 23% tax rate

House Bill 347 set the operator tax at 18% of gross gaming revenue. In early June 2026, legislators agreed to lift it to somewhere between 20% and 30%. Senator Jim Burgin later confirmed the figure as 23%, CDC Gaming Reports noted. The increase falls on operators’ revenue, not on what bettors pay on their winnings.

Federal deduction cap and taxes on winnings

Since January 1, 2026, federal rules let bettors deduct only 90% of gambling losses against winnings, so a break-even year can still leave a tax bill. Sportsbook winnings are also taxable on your North Carolina return, and operators issue W-2G forms for larger wins. Keep your own records. The app’s annual statement is a starting point, not a substitute.

Prediction markets

North Carolina has not brought enforcement action against prediction markets, so national platforms such as Kalshi, Polymarket and DraftKings Predictions accept NC users. That could change quickly. Three federal appeals courts have now split on whether states can regulate event contracts, and the Supreme Court has petitions on file. Trading event contracts involves risk of loss.

How we pick the North Carolina offers on this page

We only show partner offers that are licensed or legally available in North Carolina. We check each one against the operator’s own terms and eligible-state list, not third-party promo sites. Sportsbook offers appear only where the brand holds a North Carolina license. Sweepstakes brands appear only where their terms do not exclude the state. Where a brand is restricted, as AmWager is in some states, we leave it out even if it is a partner elsewhere.

Offers can change without notice, so the terms shown in the operator’s app at sign-up always take precedence over any summary here. In North Carolina, none of our real-money partners is currently licensed or listed as available. That is why only sweepstakes brands appear above.

Signing up for a North Carolina betting app

1. Pick one of the seven licensed sportsbooks and download its app.
2. Create an account with your legal name, date of birth, address and SSN digits.
3. Allow location services. You must be inside North Carolina to bet, though you do not need to live there.
4. Opt in to any welcome offer, then deposit by debit card, online banking or e-wallet.
5. Set deposit, wager and time limits before you start.

If odds formats are new to you, our odds converter switches American, decimal and fractional prices in one step.

Problem gambling help in North Carolina

The state’s More Than A Game program offers free, confidential help. Call 877-718-5543, text “morethanagamenc” to 53342, or chat at morethanagamenc.com. The national 1-800-GAMBLER line also connects North Carolina callers to local services.