North Carolina Online Poker Sites

North Carolina Poker Overview

Tribal casinos in North Carolina are permitted to host in-person poker tournaments and cash games. There is a World Series of Poker Room at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, with 32 tables for players in the state.

However, North Carolina does not have a regulated market for online poker. Your only option is to use an online poker room based overseas. There are no laws to stop you from using an offshore poker room, but it is important to use reputable, established sites.

How Old Do I Have to be to Play Poker in North Carolina?

You need to be 21 or older to play poker in-person at a tribal casino in North Carolina. The casino may ask for proof of ID if you look underage.

There is no locally regulated online poker market in the Tar Heel State, so it does not have an official minimum age, but most offshore sites require you to be at least 18 to play poker.

Top Poker Rooms in North Carolina

We have analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each online poker room that accepts players in North Carolina. Online poker players can learn more about our review process further down this page.

We ultimately determined that these are the top three online poker sites for North Carolina players:

Affiliate Disclosure:

At GamblingSites.org, we want to help you pick the best casino or sportsbook by providing you with quality and trustworthy information. If you choose one of our recommendations, we may earn a commission from them at no cost to you.

Bovada: Best Poker Site for North Carolina Overall

Bovada

100% up to $1,000 Welcome Bonus

Visit Site Read Review

Casino Games: Slots, Video poker, Blackjack +5 more Craps, Baccarat, Roulette, Keno, Live dealer.

Live Dealer: No

Payment Options: Visa, MasterCard, Bitcoins +6 more Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Secure Voucher, Bank Transfer, Check.

Bovada is another great choice for NC poker players. It offers a similar service to Ignition, although its welcome bonus is a little smaller. You can benefit from the same features, traffic, and breadth of tournaments and cash games, along with high-quality software, rapid payouts and a thorough rewards program.

This is an ideal site for anyone interested in playing Jackpot Sit & Go events. These are three-player SNG Texas Hold’em tournaments, with buy-ins ranging from $2 to $100. Each player begins with 300 chips and the winner takes all. There are multipliers of up to 1,000x too, which are determined randomly after all three players have registered. They can lead to very large jackpots.

• Multiple welcome bonuses to choose from, including sports, casino, and poker
• More than 300 slot machines from Rival Gaming
• Extensive sportsbook with props builder and live betting
• No fees for withdrawals

• Dedicated racebook for horse race betting on worldwide races
• Bitcoin Exclusive membership, regularly offering you more promotions such as 50% reload bonuses
• Lacks multiple bitcoin withdrawal options

Ignition: Best Poker Site for Mobile

Ignition Casino

300% up to $3,000 Welcome Bonus

Visit Site Read Review

Casino Games: Slots, Blackjack, Baccarat +2 more Live dealer, Keno.

Live Dealer: No

Payment Options: Visa, MasterCard, American Express +8 more American Express, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether, Secure Voucher, Check, American Express.

Ignition is the best online poker site for NC players. It offers a huge variety of tournaments and cash games each week, covering Hold’em, Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo poker variants. The site guarantees $2 million in weekly prize pools, including a $200,000 flagship tournament each weekend.

This site runs on the PaiWangLuo network, which is one of the busiest poker network for American players, with better liquidity and higher traffic than rival networks. The buy-ins should suit all budgets.

Ignition Poker is also a sophisticated, feature-rich site, which you can customize to your personal preferences. There are large bonuses – including a 150% sign-up bonus of up to $1,500 – and it provides same day payouts, 24/7 support, and competitive rake and fees too.

• 300% welcome bonus up to $3,000
• Virtual sports betting option
• 300 + games available
• Hot Drop Jackpots
• Low withdrawal limits ($10)

• Not available in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, or New York
• Limited and slow customer service (only live chat, 10 minute wait)

SportsBetting.ag: Best Poker Site for New Players

SportsBetting.ag

100% up to $3,000 Welcome Bonus

Visit Site Read Review

Casino Games: Slots, Blackjack, Video poker +4 more Live dealer, Baccarat, Roulette, Craps.

Live Dealer: Yes

Payment Options: Bitcoins, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano +10 more Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Tether, MasterCard, American Express, Visa, Bank Transfer, Check.

SportsBetting.ag offers a compelling alternative to Ignition and Bovada. It runs on the Chico Network, which is not quite as busy as PaiWangLuo. However, it does have some standout features.

They include a Bad Beat Jackpot bonus, which is paid out when a player loses despite holding a full house or better. It leads to a large payout, which increases progressively. It has exceeded $200,000 in the past. The player that suffered the bad beat receives 20% of the jackpot, 15% goes to the player with the winning hand, 12.5% is shared among players at the table, and 12.5% goes to anyone else at BBJ tables and the rest goes to re-seeding.

It is also worth noting that the site attracts a lot of novices, and – unlike Bovada – it does not have anonymous tables, so experienced players can find fish to chew up.

• Sports betting, casino games, online poker, and esports all in one place
• Wide range of promotions, including welcome bonuses, reload bonuses, free bets, and contests
• Access the site from your mobile browser or download the SportsBetting poker app
• Large variety of banking options, including a whopping 12 cryptocurrencies
• High deposit and withdrawal limits

• E-wallet banking methods not available
• While poker traffic is decent, it falls in the medium range
• Varied transaction fees for most payouts

North Carolina Poker Sites: A Comparison

Here’s a quick look at how the North Carolina poker sites stack up against one another.

How We Evaluate Poker Sites in North Carolina

We identify sites that accept North Carolina players, sign up for accounts with them, and test them out in great detail. Our meticulous review process focuses on the traffic at each site, the range of skill levels, the breadth of the buy-ins, the variety of events offered, the payout speeds and other factors, such as the customer service, security, reliability and payout speeds.

These are some of the main areas we explore:

Availability in North Carolina

We will only recommend online poker sites that actively welcome North Carolina players. Sites like Bovada, Ignition, and Everygame are based overseas, but they were created to serve the North American online poker and casino market. They all accept North Carolina players, and you can make USD deposits and withdrawals.

Game Variety and Table Types

Our experts search for online poker sites that provide players with a great deal of variety and flexibility. They highlight operators that host a very busy schedule of cash games and tournaments, spanning lots of different formats, variants, and buy-ins. We consider the traffic, liquidity and general skill level of the players at each site too.

Rake and Bonuses

We scrutinize the rake and tournament entry fees that each site charges. We also break down each operator’s welcome bonus, the recurring promos and the loyalty program. Our experts focus on the volume of play required to unlock the bonus funds, along with the size of each offer. That allows us to calculate the true value on offer.

Table Features

We seek out online poker rooms that offer a smooth, sophisticated user experience. It should be quick and easy to navigate the site and find games and tournaments that suit your budget. You should also benefit from a range of value-added features, such as data, customizable set-ups, quick seat options, anonymous gameplay, and more.

Is Online Poker Legal in North Carolina?

Online poker is not legal at a state level in North Carolina. The Tar Heel State recently passed a bill legalizing North Carolina online sportsbooks and pari-mutuel horse racing wagers, but it is unlikely to legalize online poker any time soon.

It does not permit locally regulated North Carolina online casinos either. None of North Carolina’s neighboring states have legal online poker rooms or online casinos, so there is no pressure for lawmakers in the Tar Heel State to follow suit.

Your only option if you want to play online poker for real cash in NC is to use an offshore poker room. There are no locally regulated online poker real money North Carolina sites, but poker rooms based overseas accept North Carolinians.

Land-Based Cardrooms in North Carolina

There are three land-based tribal casinos in North Carolina: Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Hotel & Casino, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, and Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort. All three venues can host cardrooms, but Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort is the only one with a poker room right now.

Caesars Entertainment operates the casino in partnership with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The company owns World Series of Poker (WSOP), so it has built a 32-table WSOP room at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. There could eventually be commercial casinos in North Carolina, with the potential for poker rooms, if proponents of expanded gambling are successful. Right now, this is the only land-based poker room in the state:

Who Regulates Poker in North Carolina?

The Tribal Gaming Commission for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians regulates all gaming activities on Eastern Cherokee Lands. That means it has oversight of the WSOP room at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. If commercial casinos are rolled out in the state, including poker rooms, they will likely fall under the jurisdiction of the North Carolina Lottery Commission.

There is no state-regulated online poker market in the Tar Heel State. However, online poker rooms that accept North Carolinians are regulated by the authorities in their jurisdictions. For example, the government of Curaçao regulates Ignition Casino and Bovada, ensuring they offer a fair, secure, and reliable online gaming environment.

North Carolina’s Poker Laws Compared to Neighboring States

North Carolina’s neighboring states do not have state-regulated online poker markets. If you are based in Georgia, you need to visit an offshore casino site to play real money tournaments and cash games online. The Peach State does not have any land-based poker rooms, either.

The same is true of South Carolina, where there are no land-based casinos or cardrooms. Poker players in the state need to visit an offshore site or a brick-and-mortar venue in North Carolina to compete in tournaments. Tennessee does not have any land-based casinos or poker rooms either. Players in the east of the state can visit Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in North Carolina, or simply use an offshore online poker room.

The Future of Poker in North Carolina

A bill seeking to bring three land-based commercial casinos to North Carolina died in 2023 after a coalition of Republicans and Democrats blocked it. Senate leader Phil Berger backed the proposal, but it ultimately failed to gain the requisite support. As such, there are no plans to roll out commercial casinos with poker rooms any time soon in the Tar Heel State.

No bills have been introduced seeking to legalize online poker, either. North Carolina has been slow to expand its local gambling sector, so it is unlikely to introduce a regulated online poker market for many years, if ever. That means you must continue playing at trusted, reliable offshore poker sites for the foreseeable future.

Responsible Gambling in North Carolina

Online poker tournaments and cash games are a source of entertainment, and they should not be viewed as a potential solution to any financial difficulties. There are some professional poker players, but even the most skilled players cannot guarantee success, so it is important to only play with money you can afford to lose. If you need support, these agencies and organizations can help:

• NC Problem Gambling Program
• Gamblers Anonymous
• GamTalk
• National Council on Problem Gambling
• SAMHSA National Helpline

North Carolina Gambling Legal Sources

• American Gaming Association – North Carolina
• Cherokee Tribal Gaming Commission
• Eastern Band of Cherokee Tribal State Gaming Compact
• Second Amendment to Tribal-State Compact between the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the State of North Carolina

North Carolina’s Online Poker Scene Summary

Online poker has not been legalized at a state level in North Carolina. However, offshore online poker rooms provide players with access to nationwide poker networks with good liquidity and many game variants.

As North Carolinians wait for the state to institute an online poker system, they can enjoy online poker at sites like Bovada and Ignition. Both poker rooms are available on desktop or mobile, and have a range of games, tournaments, and generous bonuses for new players.