North Carolina Sports Betting Offers Unique Starting Point For Newcomers

• North Carolina online sports betting will launch on Monday, March 11, at noon
• Each operator will be starting from scratch in the Tar Heel State
• North Carolina will be the first state where ESPN BET launches at the same time as other operators

---

North Carolina’s sports betting launch will likely be the most heralded state launch in 2024 and will offer a level starting point for each of its eight licensed operators.

The Tar Heel State will be the first state launch for ESPN BET, and the second for Fanatics Sportsbook, to kick off at the same time as DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and the other dominant operators in the sports betting landscape.

Both Fanatics Sportsbook and ESPN BET have mostly been limited to transitioning or launching into states where sports betting has already been ongoing. North Carolina will offer them a unique opportunity to build up a customer base at the same time as each other licensed sports betting company.

North Carolina a Level Playing Field

North Carolina will provide ESPN BET its first opportunity to begin gathering customers from day one. It will be the second state for Fanatics Sportsbook, which has transitioned into several already established sports betting states over the last year following its acquisition of Pointsbet’s North American assets, to compete for customers from the beginning.

The only other state Fanatics Sportsbook had the opportunity to launch in from the beginning was Kentucky.

ESPN BET faced a similar challenge as Fanatics, as PENN Entertainment dumped Barstool Sports in favor of ESPN in late 2023. PENN’s partnership with ESPN was announced in August, but the transition from Barstool Sportsbook to ESPN BET did not take place until November.

North Carolina will be ESPN BET’s first true state launch from day one, as the sportsbook transitioned from Barstool Sportsbook in every other state it operates in.

Both sportsbooks started acquiring customers from an untapped pool of potential users on Friday, March 1, at noon, along with six other licensed operators in the state.

ESPN BET has performed well since transitioning  from Barstool Sportsbook in several other states. The operator has typically been among the top-three operators in each market in terms of total handle, but has lagged behind market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel.

In Michigan, which has a similar population to North Carolina, during ESPN BET’s first two months of operation the sportsbook reported handles of $65.2 million and $61.3 million in December 2023 and January 2024, respectively. A heavy promo spend limited revenue in the state, but its total handle has kept it in the top-four in the last two months out of 14 total sports betting operators.

As for Fanatics Sportsbook, since launching in Kentucky the book has reported the lowest handle and gross revenues out of six other operators in the state.

Here are the Kentucky online sports betting handle totals for each operator since the state’s September launch:

• DraftKings: $327,595,765
• FanDuel: $327,403,195
• Bet365: $65,698,459
• Caesars Sportsbook: $43,302,985
• BetMGM: $36,419,373
• ESPN BET: $39,584,511
• Fanatics: $15,735,684

Here are the total adjusted online sports betting gross revenues for each operator:

• DraftKings: $39,179,348
• FanDuel: $39,687,552
• Bet365: $12,532,581
• ESPN BET: $5,384,709
• BetMGM: $4,620,834
• Caesars Sportsbook: $4,086,374
• Fanatics: $1,190,878

Fanatics Sportsbook is hoping for a better performance in what should be a much larger sports betting market in North Carolina.

North Carolina Registration Now Open

All eight licensed operators began registering new users on Friday, March 1, 10 days ahead of the state’s sports betting launch.

The licensed operators are as follows:

• bet365 North Carolina: Charlotte Hornets
• BetMGM North Carolina Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Caesars Sportsbook North Carolina: Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise Cherokee
• DraftKings NC: NASCAR
• Fanatics Betting and Gaming: Carolina Hurricanes
• FanDuel North Carolina: PGA Tour
• PENN Sports Interactive (ESPN BET North Carolina): Quail Hollow Club (PGA Tour course)
• Underdog Sports: McConnell Golf