The proprietors of North Carolina’s pro sports properties lobbied vigorously for the right to open sportsbooks in stadiums, arenas, racetracks and golf courses. They won.
So when sports betting launches in North Carolina in 2024, the purveyors of eight venues housing professional teams or NASCAR or PGA Tour events will be allowed to find licensed sportsbook partners and open retail shops inside their buildings, like their comrades in jurisdictions including Arizona, the District of Columbia, and Maryland.
Gaming Today ranks the potential of North Carolina’s eight pro-sports-affiliated sportsbooks.
Ranking NC’s Eight Pro Sports Retail Sportsbooks
- Bank of America Stadium: As with every other venue on the list, it doesn’t need an actual sportsbook. Panthers fans will be able to thumb through odds on their phones while inhaling a delicious Ding Dong chicken sandwich at Pinky’s near the stadium. But football is king, the NFL is whatever is higher than that, and Carolina owner David Tepper has long espoused what sports betting could add to the fan experience and therefore fan expenditure. A destination sportsbook would draw fans before, during, and after the Panthers #KeepPounding, making it the logical winner, even with only eight or nine home games. The BetMGM retail sportsbook near the Arizona Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium offers a glimpse at the Panthers’ potential reward, as Arizona also has mobile sports betting. According to the Gaming Today sports betting revenue tracker, BetMGM’s retail facility handled $4.5 million in bets in 2022 after opening on Sept. 8.
Possible partner: Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin was once a rumored bidder for the Panthers, so maybe he gets his all-access pass. Even though the Panthers inked a sponsorship deal with Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos in 2019, they feel like a FanDuel partner in the making. The colors wouldn’t even clash.
- PNC Arena (or whatever comes next): The Carolina Hurricanes rank this high because of the zeal of owner Tom Dundon. He’s been advocating for an in-venue sportsbook like the one the Washington Capitals have. It was reported that he spent $70 million to become the majority owner of the Alliance of American Football in 2019 to secure its proprietary sports betting technology, a claim he’s refuted. (MGM ultimately acquired it through bankruptcy court). Dundon may not be picking out the style of lounger in his new sportsbook, but there’s the feeling he has a plan for how the book will mesh with the refurbishments he wants around the Raleigh arena. Hosting 81 regular-season home games doesn’t hurt either.
Possible partner: ‘Caniacs and Fanatics just go together.
- Spectrum Center: Michael Jordan has sold his majority share of the team, but the DraftKings board member and investor will retain a portion, so maybe he can hang out by the door to lure Hornets fans inside. Jordan has made a noteworthy bet or two in his lifetime — albeit many of the famous ones on golf courses — so it might be wise to lean into his expertise. And as with the Hurricanes, 41 regular-season home games could generate plenty of browsers. The FanDuel retail sportsbook inside the Phoenix Suns’ Footprint Center could inform the Hornets’ expectations. According to the Gaming Today sports betting revenue tracker, FanDuel’s retail facility took $32.3 million in bets in 2022, or 4% of the total state handle.
Possible partner: Certainly, this must be DraftKings, right?
- Charlotte Motor Speedway: Speedway Motorsports Inc. has plenty of space left in its 2,000-acre parcel along Bruton Smith Blvd. to build something as big as the late founder’s legacy. Track president Greg Walter told Gaming Today that SMI is very interested in what a retail sportsbook could add to the company’s business and how nearby retail and commercial properties — that’s you, Concord Mills — could be part of the lure on those many days without racing.
Possible partner: BetMGM generally pleases NASCAR bettors with its depth of markets.
- Quail Hollow Country Club: North Carolina sports betting regulations will allow retail sportsbooks at golf courses to do business only five days before and after PGA Tour events, making them sort of the pop-up restaurants of legal wagering. Maybe the annual Wells Fargo Championship and the 2025 PGA Championship will make it worth it. Meanwhile, in Arizona, TPC Scottsdale will open a DraftKings-branded retail sportsbook to harvest the paper dollars of all those duffers clacking through the clubhouse when the pros aren’t in town.
Possible partner: Whoever has a couple of big moving trucks.
- Sedgefield Country Club: Ditto.
- WakeMed Soccer Park: The home of the NWSL Courage in Cary would be the other retail book in the Raleigh area.
Possible partner: Not Barstool.
- North Wilkesboro Speedway: The storied old stock car venue got a facelift and a reincarnation but only part of the All-Star race for its NASCAR menu. Walter told Gaming Today that a temporary sportsbook might make more sense at the rural venue neighboring the Brushy Mountains.
Possible partner: Maybe just borrow Quail Hollow’s tent.
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