Sports betting is legal in North Carolina. Here's how often adults plan to bet

More than half of North Carolina adults say they do not plan to ever bet on sports even though it is now legal to do so, according to results of a new WRAL News poll released Friday.

State lawmakers legalized sports betting on mobile devices and at a limited number of in-person sports facilities last year. Sports betting went live across North Carolina on Monday.

The poll of 850 North Carolina adults found that 53% will never bet on sports with 18% saying they plan to bet rarely. Seven percent of adults said they would bet frequently with another 22% saying they plan to be occasionally.

Those most likely to bet frequently, according to the poll: Parents (11%), those making $80,000 or more per year (11%), those ages 18 to 34 (11%), those under age 50 (10%), those who live in urban areas (10%) and those who identified as Black (10%).

Those most likely to never bet, according to the poll: Women (61%), those over 65 (82%), those over 50 (68%), those who identify as white (60%), unaffiliated votes (66%) and those who identify as very conservative (64%).

The poll, conducted in partnership with SurveyUSA between March 3 and March 9, has a credibility interval of 4.1 percentage points. A credibility interval is similar to margin of error but takes into account more factors and is considered by some pollsters to be a more accurate measurement of statistical certainty.

Eight licensed sports betting operators are taking wagers in the state. One company that performs geolocation checks when customers log into their apps on mobile devices said it recorded more than 5.36 million checks in the first 48 hours of legal sports betting in the state. GeoComply, a geolocation and compliance company, said it identified more than 370,000 accounts in the state. One person can have multiple accounts.

There are about 8 million adults in North Carolina. Seven percent would be close to 600,000 frequent sports bettors in the state.

“College students and emerging adults, 18 to 24, seem to be at a higher risk for this form of gambling than what we’ve traditionally seen with other forms of gambling,” said Michelle Malkin, the director of the Gambling Research and Policy Initiative at East Carolina University. “Individuals between the ages of 16 to 24, it’s just normal for them to take risks, to push against what they’re being told not to do. And they’re not necessarily even being told not to do this.”

More WRAL News poll coverage can be found here.