North Carolina lawmakers are reconsidering the merits of college player prop betting just 13 months after launching their online sports betting market.
House Bill 828 was filed Tuesday, April 8 by a bipartisan group of representatives. The bill would ban player prop betting on any non-professional athlete as part of a movement to reduce harassment of college athletes.
North Carolina sports bettors placed more than $1.3 billion in mobile wagers in March and April, largely thanks to the prominence of amateur athletes involved in the NCAA basketball tournaments.
Another bite at the apple
N.C. Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-49) is one of the voices leading the push against college player prop bets. She filed Senate Bill 788, a companion bill to House Bill 967, during the 2023-24 legislative session in an attempt to remove the betting market from North Carolina’s catalog of available wagers.
Prop bets are smaller wagers that do not directly relate to the final outcome of an event.
For example, a bettor who takes the University of North Carolina men's basketball team at -1.5 needs the Tar Heels to win by 2 points or more to win their bet.
But a customer who wagers on North Carolina Player A to score 20+ points needs them to finish with at least 20 or their bet will lose, no matter which team wins the game.
The prominence of player prop betting has led to an increase in harassment at all levels and across numerous sports.
NCAA President Charlie Baker spent most of last year and the early part of 2025 campaigning against prop bets for their negative effects such as harassment, particularly during popular events such as March Madness.
“We should at least be protecting our young and younger athletes,” Mayfield told WCNC Charlotte. “You should not be able to yell at athletes about your choice, and the fact that it didn't work out for you.”
“This is not good for our kind of college athletes ... I hope we would do something about that.”
Where is college player prop betting legal?
College player prop betting is only available in full in a select number of states that legalized sports betting. That list includes:
- > Arkansas
- > Indiana (pre-game only)
- > Kansas
- > Kentucky
- > Michigan
- > Montana (retail only)
- > Nevada
- > North Carolina
- > North Dakota
- > Wyoming
Several other states allow college player prop betting on out-of-state teams only. Those include:
- > Connecticut
- > Delaware
- > Florida
- > Illinois
- > Iowa
- > Nebraska
- > New Hampshire
- > New Jersey
- > New Mexico (retail only)
- > Rhode Island
- > Washington
- > Washington D.C.
- > Wisconsin
As the validity of player prop bets is considered, another bill would prevent retail sportsbooks from taking bets before or after college events at nearby facilities.
The bill, whose primary sponsor is N.C. Rep. and House Speaker Pro Tempore Mitchell S. Setzer (R-89), was introduced on Tuesday and passed its first reading on Wednesday. It was referred to the House Committee On Rules, Calendar, and Operations.
The bill would implement an eight-hour window immediately before and after sports events, during which sportsbooks inside the same or adjacent facilities could not accept wagers on the event in question.
North Carolina accepted more than $7.2 billion in total wagers, including college player props, during its first year with legal sports betting, according to the North Carolina State Lottery Commission.