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North Carolina will not ban college prop betting in 2024
Failure of House Bill 967 is an about-face to other States banning player prop bets.
The 2024 legislative session in North Carolina is over, and a bill introduced to potentially ban college player prop betting in the state never got off the ground.
Representative Marcia Morey introduced House Bill 967, which would have banned college player prop betting in the state of North Carolina. A prop bet is a bet on a specific athlete’s individual game stats, such as how many points a basketball player scores, or how many yards a running back rushes for. Senator Julie Mayfield filed a similar bill in her chamber which also garnered little traction.
The bills are extremely unlikely to move, as both the Senate and House adjourned at the end of June. They will only meet for occasional short sessions to discuss overrides and emergencies. Sports betting is not considered an emergency. Lawmakers cannot introduce a new bill until January 2025.
Bill is a reaction to NCAA request
North Carolina’s effort to potentially ban college player props does not come from thin air. The legislation is a direct result of comments from NCAA President Charlie Baker. President Baker recently requested states ban these types of bets as they could lead to harassment of athletes and complications around the integrity of games.
During a March Madness media availability session, President Baker responded to inquiries about player prop betting with the following statement, “We’re kind of in the top of the first inning on this one, and I think it’s really important for us to recognize this is going to be a challenging issue. We really need to take seriously the fact that student-athletes are surrounded by a huge percentage of their classmates and schoolmates who bet on sports, which is a problem all by itself.”
For example, if a bettor bets a player to record Over 19.5 points in a basketball game and the player comes up short, the bettor loses. There have been reports of bettors screaming at athletes in the stands at events and engaging in vitriolic online harassment through direct messages and tagging of players.
Other states have followed NCAA request
While North Carolina will likely permit college player prop betting this upcoming football season, there are other states that have banned the betting of college player props. Some states did so as a response to the NCAA’s request, while others had the foresight to avoid the potential issues from the start.
The following states have had bans on college player props before the NCAA’s request:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Massachusetts
- Oregon
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Iowa, Illinois, and Rhode Island have banned player prop betting on in-state schools. Indiana has banned live player prop betting.
Recently, Ohio, Maryland, and Vermont joined this list of states that don’t allow betting on player props for college athletes. Louisiana will no longer accept these bets as of August 1st. New Jersey is one of the other states that have floated the idea of banning the market as well.
Some states, such as Arkansas, have already stated that they will not fulfill Baker’s request. There are legitimate concerns that banning the college player prop market on legal sportsbooks will simply move the action to illegal sportsbooks. Once that happens, it becomes infinitely harder to monitor and regulate.
North Carolina’s launch has been successful
North Carolina is the newest sports betting market in the country, as they launched online betting in March of this past year. Early returns have been promising.
The state has accepted more than $2.2 billion in bets and generated $275 million in gross revenue. June was the first month in which the state failed to eclipse $500 million in betting handle.
The state launched online betting just in time for March Madness. In the tournament, Duke, NC State, and UNC all made relatively deep runs, with all three schools reaching the Sweet 16. The success of the local schools surely helped bolster North Carolina’s numbers, though it’s unclear whether player props during the tournament made a significant impact on the numbers.