A big change is coming to North Carolina next week and if you haven’t already heard an ad for it, well, count yourself lucky. You’ll be able to legally bet online on the Hornets or the Panthers. Or any other sports team. North Carolina lawmakers last year approved sports gambling and it begins on Monday.

For more, we turn now to Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter for our segment BizWorthy.

Marshall Terry: So is it just a coincidence, Tony, that this is coming right as March Madness gets underway?

Tony Mecia: It is kind of funny how this worked out, isn’t it Marshall, with the ACC Tournament kicking off next week. Regulators have been working to come up with the regulations and permits for the last several months, and they say they’re pretty much ready to go. This is something that North Carolina did because it thought that it was losing out on tax revenue. Tennessee has online sports gambling, so does Virginia. They said this is sort of a way to bring it into the light and get some tax money out of it. The gambling operators have to pay a $1 million fee that lasts for five years. They have to put in 18% of gross revenue. The estimates from the state are that this will generate about $75 million a year in revenue for the state.

Terry: Where is all this money that it’s supposed to generate going to go?

Mecia: Well, the law does specify specifically where it has to go. There’s a certain amount set aside to help with gambling addiction. Some money goes to athletic departments of public universities, some goes for sports-related economic development, but most of it is going to go to the state’s general fund, which the legislature can use for anything.

Terry: And you report betting platforms are fighting with each other to sign North Carolina residents up. What are they doing to stand out?

Mecia: If you do go online and happen to look at these platforms, they are very similar as far as the odds and the things that you can bet on. One of the things that they’re doing to try to gain users is they’re offering free bets. They’re saying, in many cases, we’ll give you a couple hundred dollars of free bets. You have to actually bet the money and then you have to win in order to get the winnings. They won’t give you that original credit. But that’s one of the ways that they’re trying to stand out is by, sort of, having an arms race of free promotions to get people signed up, and to get them loaded in money, and to get them in the habit of betting.

Terry: Now how eager are you to place your bet on the Hornets or Panthers?

Mecia: Well, you have to look at the line on each of those, I guess, Marshall. Take it on a case-by-case basis. You are allowed to bet against the odds. So even if the Hornets or Panthers are big underdogs, there’s still a way, maybe, to make that happen.

Terry: All right. Moving on to some real estate scuttlebutt that you occasionally write about. One that stood out to me recently is what’s going on with that giant office complex in University City. Insurance company Centene abandoned before it was completed. What can you tell us?

Mecia: Local real estate brokers have been buzzing the last few weeks about the possibility that there might actually be a tenant moving into that space. It’s an 800,000-square-foot office complex that was initially built for Centene, a single tenant. And so it’s a little bit tricky to try to get multiple tenants in there just because of the way that it’s designed. Centene, of course, pulled out of that deal in 2022. It’s been empty since then. The building is supposed to be finished in the next few weeks. And so, there’s a lot of speculation out there that there might be somebody interested in that space, but nothing officially has been announced.

Terry: Finally, you report Queens University of Charlotte is attributing a 7% bump in applications possibly to a recent romantic comedy?

Mecia: That’s right, Marshall. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie “The Other Zoey.” It’s a romantic comedy that was filmed at Queens a couple of years ago. It was released last fall. Queens’ director of admissions told us this week that the fact that the movie showcased the beauty of the campus and generated excitement among students, she thinks led to a bump in applications because it “boosted our visibility on a global scale.”

Terry: I have not seen it, but I will be sure to add it to my queue.

Mecia: It got an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it is potentially a good movie, one to watch with some local tie-ins.

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