The North Carolina State Lottery Commission has confirmed that legal sports betting will commence in the state at noon on March 11.

The start date for sports betting in North Carolina will come more than three months ahead of the June 15 deadline set by the state law authorizing sports betting when it was approved by the NC General Assembly last year.

The Commission has also set March 1 as the date when licensed operators can begin registering accounts for new players and accepting account deposits.

Before offering bets or registering new players, operators must obtain a license and receive a certificate of compliance issued by the Commission.

“The plan approved today means that North Carolinians will be able to place bets on their favorite teams in many of this year’s college basketball conference tournaments, including men’s tournaments in the ACC, Conference USA, the MEAC, and the AAC, as well as throughout the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments,” said North Carolina State Lottery Commission chair Ripley Rand.

“Bets on sporting events have been made for as long as those events have taken place, but this time they will be legal, they will be done securely and fairly, and they will be made under rules designed to encourage responsible gaming.”

No licenses or certificates of compliance have yet been approved, with the Commission currently reviewing nine applications for operators.

“The commission and its staff have made great progress in efficiently adopting rules for sports betting, building a system to accept and review technical certifications, and assisting applicants with their applications,” said Cari Boyce, chair of the commission’s Sports Betting Committee. “This establishes the framework for a responsible gaming program in North Carolina. Now it is up to the applicants to finish the job in order to go live on March 11.”

The state’s current sports betting laws do not permit advance deposit wagering (ADW) or pari-mutuel horse race wagering.

The Commission and its staff are in the process of drafting rules for ADW and pari-mutuel horse race wagering, and will follow the commission’s Rulemaking Policy and Procedure to provide the public with an opportunity to comment prior to adoption.

The first sports wagers will be made on mobile devices. In-person sports wagering will follow on a case-by-case basis as interested operators meet standard requirements.