North Carolina residents who wish to exclude themselves from wagering once the mobile sportsbooks go live on March 11th can now do so via a form available online and approved by the state’s lottery commission.
Self-Exclusion Program Goes Live
Those who would like to enter a voluntary self-exclusion program before sports betting is available, and the blizzard of advertising is unleashed, can do so in North Carolina before the March 11th launch of mobile sportsbooks in the Tar Heel State.
According to the North Carolina Lottery Commission website, North Carolinians “can activate a self-exclusion feature that will block all account-based sports wagering and advance deposit wagering on horse races…available through licensed operators in North Carolina.”
It should be noted that no one can enter someone else into this self-exclusion program, which is why it is called self-exclusion and not third-party exclusion. The sign-up is completely voluntary and once an application is completed the person will be excluded from all the sportsbooks operating in North Carolina. Naturally, those online sportsbook operators that are not servicing North Carolina will not be notified nor will the offshore sites.
Different Levels of Exclusion
Those who wish to sign up for the self-exclusion program in North Carolina have options. An exclusion can run the gamut from one year, three years, five years, or the rest of the applicants’ lives. It is completely voluntary and all decisions are made by the subscriber.
A photo ID must be sent and the following information is needed: Name, date of birth, email address, mailing address, social security number and telephone number.
Amanda Winters, Program Administrator for the North Carolina Problem Gambling Program, is bracing for the casualties that are certain to come once mobile sports betting is launched this month.
“We’re ready. We know it’s coming. We understand what’s happened in other states, so that’s helped us prepare ourselves a little bit better. But we’re waiting with bated breath to see how it plays out,” said Winters.
Anticipating Movement
The sportsbooks will be available to accept bets on March Madness and with two of the most recognizable college basketball programs in the nation, the University of North Carolina, and Duke, located in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina, respectively, guaranteeing there will be no shortage of bettors in North Carolina waiting to get down.
“We know that we’ll see an increase in helpline calls. We know that people do experience greater harms when it comes to sports betting, so we’ve provided additional trainings for our clinicians,” Winters added. “We’ve focused … our prevention programs on high-risk populations. We’ve ensured that the helpline is well prepared. They’re aware that there will be an influx of calls, and they’ve prepared to adjust for that.”
The NC Problem Gambling Program is under the umbrella of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. A $1 million budget is earmarked for the NC Problem Gambling Program but the organization will be receiving $2 million each year directly from the revenues derived from online sports betting.
Therefore, there will be a bigger budget to handle with an increased workload, which will come because of the easy access and availability of sports betting in the North Carolina market.
“We are able to plan, and that’s a big part of the program that we run here … ensuring that the plans and the programs we have in place already are on a solid, concrete base and are strong so that when we do build on them, we know that we are starting from a good place,” Winters said.
