GeoComply Solutions Inc. is having a bit of an “I told you so” moment with the launch of online sports betting in the Tar Heel State.
Vancouver-based GeoComply, a company that helps online sportsbooks determine the location of customers, reported on Wednesday, two days after the legal start of mobile sports wagering in North Carolina, that it had conducted more than 5.3 million geolocation checks in the state since the launch.
GeoComply also reported nearly 370,000 online sportsbook accounts were active in the state from the debut of online sports betting at noon on March 11 to noon again on March 13.
To compare, GeoComply saw just over two million geolocation checks from 134,000 active accounts in nearby Virginia during the same two days.
A supersized start
Furthermore, GeoComply reported there were 8.5 million accounts active during this year's Super Bowl weekend in states where online sports betting is legal, up from 7.4 million a year earlier.
That meant there were more than 1.1 million new accounts activated from 2023 to 2024 in the U.S., or over a million in an entire calendar year. Meanwhile, in one weekend in North Carolina, almost 370,000 active accounts were identified, equal to around a third of all accounts created nationwide between Super Bowls.
“The first 48 hours of [mobile] sports betting in North Carolina has confirmed what we already know: there is huge demand for legal online betting in the Tar Heel State,” GeoComply posted on X, the former Twitter. “With March Madness on the horizon, North Carolina is poised to be one of the leading markets in the country.”
The first 48 hours of sports betting in North Carolina has confirmed what we already know: there is huge demand for legal online betting in the Tar Heel State.
— GeoComply (@GeoComply) March 13, 2024
Last year we shared our data with dozens of North Carolina lawmakers that showed, without question, that their… pic.twitter.com/7eiQfhpejI
North Carolina is the ninth-most populous state in the U.S. and it is the largest state to launch online sports betting (not counting Florida's relaunch last year) since Ohio in early 2023. There are eight authorized online sportsbooks in the state, including stalwarts such as DraftKings and FanDuel and newer faces like ESPN BET and Underdog Sportsbook.
Part of the rationale for legalizing online sports betting in North Carolina, which already had legal wagering at three brick-and-mortar casinos before the mobile launch, was to capture wagering activity flowing to offshore operators or licensed bookmakers in Tennessee and Virginia.
GeoComply told Covers last year that there were more than 1.75 million attempts from within North Carolina to access legal sports betting apps in other markets from the start of the 2022 NFL regular season to the 2023 Super Bowl. Those attempts were tied to nearly 166,000 unique player accounts.
“Last year we shared our data with dozens of North Carolina lawmakers that showed, without question, that their residents were seeking out legal betting options in Virginia and Tennessee,” GeoComply posted on Wednesday. “Today, these same consumers have the safeguards of legal sports betting right in North Carolina and the state gets to keep all the tax revenue.”
Looking south
The launch in North Carolina is apparently attracting attention from the state's southern neighbor, South Carolina.
According to GeoComply, the company has identified 6,175 online sports betting accounts within South Carolina that have tried and been blocked from accessing North Carolina's regulated mobile sportsbooks since Monday.
“It's early, but North Carolina is already delivering on lawmaker expectations when they legalized online sports betting last year," said Lindsay Slader, GeoComply’s senior vice president of compliance, in a statement. "The state’s well-structured approach to mobile sports betting safeguards consumers and opens up significant revenue streams. With March Madness around the corner, we are excited to see continued growth.”
