Gambling.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: GAMB), a leading provider of player acquisition services for the regulated global online gambling industry, today noted the signing of House Bill (HB) 347 to allow legal, regulated online sports betting across North Carolina – becoming the 28th state to do so. HB 347 requires the state lottery to publish online sports betting regulations by January 8, 2024, and to authorize sports betting operators to start accepting wagers within one year from today.
The legalization of online sports betting in North Carolina is a highlight for Gambling.com Group Limited’s co-founders and Charlotte natives, Charles Gillespie and Kevin McCrystle, who during their time at UNC Chapel Hill started the business that would become Gambling.com Group Limited in 2006. With no regulated online gambling in the United States at the time, Gillespie and McCrystle left North Carolina to build a fully-licensed performance marketing business focused on online gambling with the regulated United Kingdom and Ireland markets as the group’s initial core.
In 2018, the Gambling.com Group Limited turned its focus back to the United States after the Supreme Court invalidated the federal prohibition on sports betting. In the years since, Gambling.com Group’s business in North America has grown from under $2 million in revenue in 2019 to nearly $36 million for the 2022 full-year period.
Today, the Gambling.com Group Limited has its primary United States office in Charlotte, which the Charlotte Business Journal described as one of the ‘Best Places to Work’ in 2022. In his role of Chief Operating Officer, McCrystle is now once again based in Charlotte and leads the local North Carolina team in addition to overseeing the group’s global operations, which employ over 400 full-time employees and contractors.
“Kevin and I started our journey to build the pre-eminent online gambling affiliate operator in 2006 from an idea that formed in a dorm room in Chapel Hill and which quickly led us abroad to find regulated markets where we could apply our expertise and passion,” the Chief Executive Officer for Gambling.com Group Limited, Charles Gillespie, said. “Our journey to building one of the world’s leading online gambling performance marketing companies has now come full circle with the legalization of online sports betting in North Carolina. I applaud and congratulate the state’s General Assembly leaders and Governor Cooper for making regulated online sports betting a reality. The next generation of North Carolina entrepreneurs will be able to dive straight into opportunities in this exciting industry.”
Gambling.com Group Limited stands ready to apply its proven formula in North Carolina to help residents and visitors identify, assess and access the online sportsbooks that will be regulated by the North Carolina Lottery. The group helps licensed online gambling operators acquire players through its portfolio of websites including Gambling.com, Bookies.com, RotoWire.com and the soon-to-launch Casinos.com as well as state-specific websites like BetCarolina.com, which the group launched in March of 2022 to help residents find up-to-date information on North Carolina-specific sports betting topics such as legislative updates, breaking news about the push for regulation and betting coverage of local teams as well as through the Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News & Observer and the Durham Herald-Sun via the group’s media partnership with The McClatchy Company.
“After traveling all around the world helping to expand regulated betting markets, it is amazing to finally be home in North Carolina and have access to legal online sports betting,” McCrystle said. “Our talented team in North Carolina and across the globe are well positioned to help operators and customers in the ‘Tarheel State’ succeed as the legal North American sports betting industry continues to grow and succeed.”
Performance marketing companies, or affiliates, such as Gambling.com Group Limited, are a critical tool for regulators to channel customers toward their new legal sports betting options and away from offshore sportsbooks, which are subject to minimal oversight, are not taxed and provide risks to players’ deposits and winnings. As an online resource for sports betting, affiliates help millions of customers make informed decisions on where to place their wagers and therefore must be held to stringent standards of responsibility and safety. Gambling.com Group Limited works hand-in-hand with regulated sports betting operators and is an integral part of the ecosystem in establishing and maintaining the sustainability of the legal market, which will begin to provide consumer protection for North Carolina sports bettors.
Gambling.com Group Limited believes that North Carolina will not only grow jobs in the state but will keep revenue that is currently flowing to neighboring states such as Virginia and Tennessee where sports betting has been regulated for years, not to mention offshore websites.
North Carolina’s population of nearly eleven million adults has the potential to become one of the largest sports betting markets in the United States. Legislators forecast more than $100 million in tax revenue a year within five years of sports betting launching in the state. Gambling.com Group Limited enables sportsbook operators to acquire customers without broadcasting highly-visible advertising on television, which impacts everyone, including young people. Because affiliates predominantly provide resources to motivated consumers actively seeking out information, companies like Gambling.com Group Limited are an ideal alternative to traditional advertising in the industry.
According to a recent survey conducted by BetCarolina.com, nearly 16% of North Carolina adults already bet on sports and 31% said they are either ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to bet when the state launches sports betting statewide. A quarter of those surveyed said they would bet at least monthly and nearly half said they would bet at least once a year.