As NC legalizes online sports betting, Gambling.com’s Charlotte founders eye expansion

After starting a business reviewing online gambling sites nearly 20 years ago, Charlotte natives Charles Gillespie and Kevin McCrystle had to go overseas for their company to succeed.

Back then, online betting was not legal in the U.S., but many states eventually came around to the idea, including online sports bets. North Carolina joins that group Monday with the first day of legalized online sports gambling, just in time for March Madness college basketball tournaments.

“The U.S. is kind of late to the party,” Gillespie said.

The Providence Day School graduates founded the Gambling.com Group in 2006 while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gambling.com helps users find gambling sites and provides extensive reviews, analysis and data for a safe online experience.

Gillespie and McCrystle moved to Shanghai, China, to launch their site, before opening an office in Dublin in the mid-2010s. The North American headquarters in Charlotte opened in 2019, and the company began trading on the NASDAQ exchange in 2021.

“It’s full circle,” Gillespie said. “If North Carolina had regulated sports betting 20 years ago, we may never have left. But now, we’ve had this kind of worldwide adventure.”

McClatchy-owned newspapers, including The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer of Raleigh, are among the media outlets hosting sponsored content from Gambling.com promoting sports betting companies on their homepages.

McClatchy newsrooms are not involved in creating the content, but McClatchy may earn a commission when readers make a purchase through one of its links.

Coming home to NC

The Charlotte-based business operates more than 50 websites in seven languages across 15 national markets. Some of them are Bookies.com; Casinos.com; and BetCarolina.com, which is getting a lot of traffic ahead of the N.C. launch.

Gambling.com reported net revenues of $76.5 million for fiscal year 2022. The company is scheduled to release its next annual results on March 21.

Gambling.com employs more than 500 people worldwide, including about 25 in Charlotte. Charles Gillespie and Kevin McCrystle picked their hometown to build a leadership team. And they are planning to move their headquarters from South End to the Station at LoSo in June.

The new office has 10,413 square feet of space and can hold about 60 people, which means more people may come in the future. “We wouldn’t have taken that big of an office if we didn’t expect to get any use out of it,” Gillespie said.

With North Carolina being home to the Research Triangle and many technology companies, Gillespie said the online gambling business is full of potential.

“It’s going to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to build a business in this industry, and they’ll be able to do it and test the product from North Carolina,” he said.

Revenue from sports betting in NC

Analysts expect sports betting will draw nearly $4 billion in wagers during the first full year of operation, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

In three years, N.C. officials project taxes on sports gambling will contribute more than $40 million annually to the state general fund.

There also will be more money to help with the potential rise in gambling addiction following the latest expansion in the state. Legislators have tripled the Problem Gambling Program’s budget with an additional $2 million annually starting in the next fiscal year, funded by an 18% tax on sports betting revenue.

Advocating for the industry

Gambling.com was a part of setting up the Responsible Gambling Affiliate Association, an independent trade association of companies involved in the promotion and advertisement of gambling, iGaming and sports betting.

Gillespie said it’s a way to remain active in advocating for the industry. He recalled a time when state lawmakers weren’t so receptive to pitches from him and others in the field.

In 2003, he said, he wrote letters asking them to legalize online sports betting and online casinos. He said he got a call from one who said online gambling was responsible for funding terrorism after 9/11.

“People were so against online gambling 20 years ago, they were willing to make an unsubstantiated association with terrorist financing to just kill the discussion,” Gillespie said. “Obviously, we covered a lot of ground to get to the point where we are today.”

New to online sports betting?

Anyone 21 or older will be able to bet on professional and college sports in North Carolina. The law permits in-person wagering at retail sports books located within 1 1/2 miles of any of the eight professional sports facilities in the state.

In Charlotte, those sites are at Bank of America Stadium, Spectrum Center, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Quail Hollow Country Club.

For people wanting to get in on the action before games, Gillespie and McCrystle advise future bettors to plan early and shop around for the best sportsbook odds. “It’s not the same everywhere,” McCrystle said. “And it can make a big difference.”

As a Charlotte native McCrystle is looking forward to getting in on the action locally and is happy to have a reason to watch the Charlotte Hornets play.

“I can put a little bit of money on it,” he said. “It’ll be more fun than watching them lose the rest of the season. It’s just going to be exciting. We spend all day looking at and talking about betting.”

And starting Monday, he can do that in North Carolina too.