The man who signed the NC gambling bill yesterday

We are joined by the Honorable Roy Cooper, the Governor of North Carolina, but you have another title, and I know you know this. You are the Governor of Caniac Nation. So, welcome to the program.

I appreciate your time. Yesterday was a momentous day, maybe for you, but certainly for the state. We probably should have been here maybe a year ago, but you signed the gambling, the sports wagering bill yesterday. So, your thoughts about what it means to the state of North Carolina. Well, I'm excited about it Adam, and I'm still going back to being Governor of Caniac Nation.

What an honor, what an honor that would be. I certainly am one of the throng of fans who are so committed that we drag ourselves out of the PNC Center at 2 a.m. after a four-overtime loss of playoffs, but in any event, yesterday was a great day for our state, finally legalizing sports wagering, something that we know is going on, and now finally we're able to allow North Carolina taxpayers to get a piece of this, to put some safeguards on it, to provide some funding for people with addiction and problem gambling, and certainly help to boost our professional teams in North Carolina. We're becoming a focal point for professional sports. We still got to get that major league baseball team, but I'm excited about the opportunities here.

It helps a team like the Hurricanes with a salary cap and making sure that they've got outside investments to help grow the team and continue to want to stay here. So it's a big day, going to create a lot of jobs for our state, and it is something that we probably should have had last year, but it's one of those things we came together in a bipartisan way to get done. So that that's positive for our state.

Roy Cooper, the Governor of North Carolina. I don't understand the would-be. You are the Governor of Caniac Nation. Excellent. All right, so you can decree that?

Of course I can. I'm part-time occasional employee of the team, too. You're just happy tonight because your Mets walked off the Bronx Bombers last night. What a disaster the seventh inning was. I actually watched the end of that game that they won. I almost feel bad that the Mets won a game, but they did.

They did walk off in 10 innings. I appreciate you you even mentioning that. Well, you know, there are only four back in the wild card race. There's always hope. Man, that's what's so great about the wild card is that you wouldn't be in it if it weren't for that. That's for sure. It's fun.

That is for sure. Well, this has opened the door into further conversations where we could talk baseball. Do you have a baseball team that you support? I can't go there. I cannot go there. I'm not ready to reveal that to you. In North Carolina, we did not grow up with professional sports, so those of us who loved sports had to find teams. Maybe if I get to come on again, I can reveal that to you, but today I'm not going to do that because I still think that North Carolina is a prime location for an MLDB team. I don't know if it's the Triad.

I don't know if it's the Triangle. I don't know if it's the Charlotte area, but I'm ready to roll on that too. All right, well, look, I know there are people. I have been very much on the record, and we're getting completely derailed here, but that's fine, very, very much on the record as saying that I don't think that there is a place that can support it, but I hope that you're right and I'm wrong because you and I have talked about this. Man, I'm here. Whatever it takes, I will help. If you need help, I will help you get that done.

The Mets can't come, but maybe, I don't know, maybe Tampa would like to just move into Durham. All right, let me get to a couple of other things with the governor. Good team to start with, but go ahead.

They're very, very good. First of all, will you make the first wager whenever that is, and I have the wager for you if you are going to make it. Well, let me hear what you're offering. So, it's a simple one. It's canes win the cup. Right now, the canes are 11-1 plus 1,100 to win the cup. By the time we get this up and running, we might be into, I know the earliest is January 8, but it's probably going to be a little bit later, it may be into the spring before that happens, and the hurricanes might be a different number, but right now, 11-1. You just gave me a fantastic idea.

Thank you. That is a fantastic idea because I'm going to have to make an admission to you, and I haven't said this publicly either. I wouldn't be big, I don't think, on sports betting myself unless it were for a team that I was already for. I watch sports, I'm sort of a purist for sports. If I see a game and it affects the standings for my team, then I know who I'm pulling for, and betting would mess all of that up.

I don't think I could enjoy sports in the same way, so I don't think you're going to see me being the big sports fan that I am really doing that unless it's something fun like you just mentioned, and I hadn't really thought about that. It's probably going to be January at best before we get this thing started. I know that there's a lot to do. The lottery commission is starting, but I'm putting that on the list of things that we might could do to get things rolling. That's a good idea, Adam, and I almost would want to do that anyway. I'm so in on this Canes team, and Dundon and Waddell and Brenda Moore ready for the rerun.

I'm excited about it. I'm 100% with you. It's funny, I was thinking about this as I watched online the whole event in Charlotte, and we're signing the bill, and I remember you and I having a conversation. This might go back 15 or 20 years. You were still the attorney general, and we were both against ticket scalping, which now is a billion dollar legal industry. It's called the secondary market, and we were both against ticket scalping, and I was just kind of musing to myself how far we have come in the last 15 or 20 years from that to where we are today.

Do you think about that at all? Yeah, I do think about that, and sports has really moved. I think online high-speed internet has changed our way of life in so many ways, and I think that's clearly one way that's had a big difference.

I think that the time particularly that you and I were talking about were when the Canes were in the playoffs, and these guys were coming in and buying up huge blocks of tickets and reselling them on the market, and that was a very frustrating time for North Carolinians who were standing in a long line in front of what I think was then the RBC arena waiting for tickets, but you're right. I mean, things have changed. You got to adapt, and that's what North Carolina is doing. Yesterday, Vermont and North Carolina were two more states added to those who are engaged in sports wagering, and I think it was important that we did not get behind. I do think that the economy of this is strong, but it's going to open up a lot more jobs for our state, and plus, people will be able to have some fun and enjoy it.

I've actually looked at it as quality of life might not be the right term to use, but it's entertainment. By the way, you and I are on the same page. We do a segment every day in the show where we place bets. I haven't placed a bet in 12 years. Literally, I've done it twice in two stretches legally in my life where I've been to Las Vegas two times.

It's the only time I ever do it. I don't place bets. Maybe an occasional NCAA tournament bracket pool, which you and I used to do together.

Not the pool, but just brackets. Do you have an estimate? We're talking with the governor, Roy Cooper, governor not only of North Carolina but Caniac Nation. Do you have an estimate on yearly revenue to the state?

Because I'm looking at a chart here. Tennessee brought in 141 million dollars in tax revenue last year. Virginia about almost 100 million dollars in tax revenue last year. Do you have an estimate of what the numbers might be for North Carolina?

I think it's hard to know, but I do think that numbers have been around 100 million dollars in a year that could be brought in with this. I think what was good about legislation that was considered last year versus what we ended up passing this year is that it was a 14 percent tax last year and it also gave a lot of credits for promotions, etc. so that the actual tax dollars didn't end up being a whole lot for the people of North Carolina. That was one of the concerns that I had about last year and coming into this year regarding the amount of money that was going to be.

If we're going to do this, we might as well make it worth something for the people of North Carolina. So now it's 18 percent and there's no credits given for promotions and all of that. So it's a straight up percentage that the people will get.

We're hoping that it would be around 100 million, but I think that there are varying estimates on that. It will depend on how popular these licenses are. I tend to think we'll give the statutory maximum licenses. I don't know that for sure, but you got to guess that that's probably what would happen. We'll see how all of this comes down during the next year. The gear up is going to be important. The lottery commission now has a big job to implement this, something that we've never done before.

Implement this, make sure that it is regulated properly and administered properly so people can enjoy it. Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina is joining us here. A couple of quick things before I let you go. First, Happy Bull Durham Day, 35th anniversary of the debut of the movie Bull Durham. We have a favorite quote that you can say on the radio. Well, you know, Lelouch, you know, if he could have had a better pitching motion, that's what bothered me about that movie the whole time. I wasn't a pitcher.

I was a catcher. I could pitch better than than was Tim was Tim. Tim Robbins.

Tim Robbins. Yeah. Well, what was that? I don't know. The movie was spectacular.

High leg kick. Yeah. I like the part where he Lelouch was kept shaking him off and he told him what the pitch was going to be and knocked it out of the park. And I forgot exactly what he said, but you know, just don't, don't shake me off anymore. That's great.

Susan's random was great. And it's just so special to see the Durham Bulls part that we love and the Durham Bulls that we love. Such an important part of North Carolina lore. What a great, what a great movie.

Yeah, it is 30th anniversary. You could get into the radio announcing of knocking the, oh yeah, knocking the bats together, right? The guy didn't travel. That was phenomenal. I would love to meet that guy.

It sounded like a North Carolinian. Oh my gosh. All right. Final thing before I let governor Roy Cooper go, and I appreciate your time. Can, I mean, I already talked to Tom Dundon yesterday. He says that the Sebastian Aho thing is that he's confident it's going to get done. Can you place a phone call and maybe just a nudge him to the finish line? Not to Aho, to Tom Dundon. Oh, sure.

I, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a hundred percent behind that. He knows how I feel about Aho and we don't want to go through again, what we went through with the offer sheet with Canadians and all of that kind of stuff. Although it ended up being kind of fun and we ended up getting one of my favorite players.

Yes, just Barry Kokoyemi, who, I love the way he smiles all the time. He's a happy kid. He used to get incrementally better. It's, it's just, that's, that whole thing was fun, but I do not want to go through it again. So we got, we got to lock up Aho and I still am baffled at how Vegas can score nine goals. I, I don't, I don't, Bobrovsky was a brick wall with us.

And then all of a sudden he's leaking like a sieve. I don't, I don't get it, but I guess that's where the mind and momentum and all of that just, just makes such a difference. We got to pick up a sniper or two, I think in free agency or trade or what have you. We're, we're in one of the best positions of any team in the league right now with cap space and with contracts we already have. It's just truly exciting. I want the Stanley cup for a day.

I don't know if that's possible, but I want it. I want to drink my diet sundrop out of it. So I got one more year for this to happen. So I'm going to be very excited and all in on, on this. Now I know, now I know what the odds are going to be at whatever the, whatever the sports book is inside PNC arena.

Uh, what will be the beverage when Roy Cooper drinks out of this Stanley cup diet sundrop is even. Oh my gosh. I, you know, I feel, I feel like I'm jinxing everything talking like this, but I'm sorry.

You, you know, a guy's got a dream and that, that would be, that would be a fantastic dream. That would be so much, so much fun, but thank you for the suggestion on the first wager thing that that's, uh, that's pretty known, man. All right. Well, thank you very much. We'll do it again. You will reveal the next time we talk, you will reveal your major league baseball team. Absolutely. I wrote it down. I've been doing this too long to get that out of me. Well, we'll see. I'll maybe see how much diet sundrop I can pry into you and maybe I'll, you'll reveal all your secrets.

The governor of Caniac nation and North Carolina, Roy Cooper. Thank you very much for coming on the show. Thanks, Adam. Enjoyed it as always. All right.

So first thing I'm going to do today when the show's over, let's go buy diet sundrop. That's frightening by the way you're in my brain right now. So yeah, I got it. I've never tried it. I've never, I remember the commercials of the chick dancing everywhere. You remember those throwback? I don't remember that. I want to say it was a super bowl from. I don't even want to guess maybe 10 ish years ago, but the super bowl chick who was wearing like the eighties gym wear and the bands and everything.

And she was like twerking around people. Yep. Well, if that's going to happen, maybe that's what we need to get. I am all in.