Sports Betting In The Carolinas Seems To Be On The Backburner

• North Carolina’s legislative session ends on June 30th and lawmakers have yet to discuss sports betting bill SB 688.
• South Carolina’s legislative session came to and end with HB 5277 failing to advance.
• North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has expressed his support of expanding with mobile betting in NC.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Sports betting in the Carolina’s started 2022 with a lot of optimism of expansion. As deadlines approach and sessions end, concern has been brewing in South Carolina and North Carlina.

South Carolina Bill Dies With No Vote

The legal sports betting market in South Carlina would have been regulated had HB 5277 passed in the House.

Both retail and online sportsbooks would have come from the bill but the session ended without a vote setting the market back at least another year.

Those close to the situation such as House Rep. William Herbkersman who introduced the bill, believes the election year complicated things. With many House Reps running in contested elections to maintain their seats, the focus of sports betting was simply put on the backburner.

There was a lot of early optimism surrounding the bipartisan bill back in April when the bill was first announced.

This may lead to a bigger push for sports betting in South Carolina to pass in 2023 when the election season is adjourned.

North Carolina Deadline Incoming

The bill to launch mobile sportsbooks in North Carolina has been sitting in limbo in the NC House for weeks and those in support are beginning to get nervous.

SB 688 has already passed in the Senate and only needs the House’s approval to be enacted. Governor Roy Cooper has already expressed his support for the bill, expressing his desire to sign it once it advances passed the House.

The Senate believes that SB 688 has the votes to pass in the House; so what is the hold up?

The Houses session began on May 18 and will end on June 30. The bill needs to pass through several committees before it can be put to an official vote by the House. Lawmakers skipped their June 6 expected meeting, pushing SB 688 back yet another week.

While the belief that the bill will pass should it be put to a vote is still there, if the bill never gets voted on then NC is set back another year.

News tags: HB 5277 | North Carolina | Raleigh | Roy Cooper | SB 688 | South Carolina