Underdog Sports ceased accepting traditional sports wagers in North Carolina on December 16, 2025, settling all open wagers the following day and exiting the licensed fixed-odds sportsbook market. The closure reduced NC’s count of active online sportsbook operators from 8 to 7; the lowest since the March 11, 2024 statewide launch.
What Underdog kept and what it dropped
| Product | Status in NC after Dec 16, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Traditional sportsbook | Discontinued |
| Daily fantasy sports (Pick’em, Best Ball, Battle Royale) | Continues |
| Existing user accounts | Preserved for DFS |
| Pending sportsbook bets | Settled by Dec 17 |
| Withdrawal of remaining balances | Standard 3-5 business days |
Underdog’s daily fantasy sports business is one of the company’s strongest verticals; NC DFS continues uninterrupted, including Pick’em pools, Best Ball drafting, and the Battle Royale tournament format.
Why Underdog exited fixed-odds
Underdog launched its NC sportsbook on March 11, 2024 alongside the seven other day-one operators. Through 2024 and 2025, the company captured well under 1% of NC handle; competing against FanDuel and DraftKings’ established user bases and BetMGM/Caesars’ resort-rewards integrations proved structurally difficult for a smaller upstart.
Industry observers attributed the closure to:
- Customer acquisition cost; Underdog spent heavily on welcome bonuses without converting to long-term volume
- Limited brand pull; Underdog’s recognition was deeper in DFS than fixed-odds
- Margin pressure; operating two products (DFS + sportsbook) on parallel infrastructure was inefficient at sub-1% market share
What it means for NC bettors
The remaining 7 NC operators are:
- FanDuel
- DraftKings
- BetMGM
- Caesars
- bet365
- theScore Bet (rebranded from ESPN BET in December 2025)
- Fanatics
NC law allows up to 11 online sportsbook licenses, so theoretically 4 additional operators could still enter the market. As of April 2026, no public license applications are pending.
If you had an Underdog sportsbook balance on December 16, the funds were either returned to your original deposit method or transferred to your Underdog DFS account at your option. Bonus bets did not transfer; they were forfeit per Underdog’s terms.
Underdog DFS continues
Underdog’s DFS products remain among the most popular in NC, particularly for Pick’em-style contests where users select OVER/UNDER on player projections. Underdog operates legally under NC’s HB 925 (2019); the DFS-skill-classification law; separate from the HB 347 sportsbook regulation.
For our updated count of operators and links to live offers, see NC Sportsbook Promos.