Licensing and regulation: Can we get a licence?

North Carolina's licensing framework for online sports wagering continues under the North Carolina State Lottery Commission, with seven operators currently licensed and active following Underdog's December 2025 exit; no change to this core structure was identified this cycle. The material development is regulatory-perimeter rather than licensing-conditions: prediction markets and event-contract platforms are now explicitly treated as sitting outside the state gambling-licensing regime, recognized instead under federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority and subject to a new state tax rather than a state licence requirement. This reflects a deliberate choice to tax rather than licence a contested product category, distinct from and running parallel to the durable statutory licensing regime governing sports wagering itself.