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Bingham, 39, won his first world title in 2015 after beating Shaun Murphy, who comes up against Anthony McGill.
Five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan faces Dave Gilbert, world number one Mark Selby plays Robert Milkins and Judd Trump meets Liang Wenbo.
Bingham begins his campaign at 10:00 BST on Saturday, playing to a conclusion from 19:00 on the same day.
World number two Bingham, who won a shock maiden world title last year despite being a 50-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, drew one of the most difficult qualifiers in Carter.
O'Sullivan and Selby will be confident of progressing after gaining favourable draws, but in-form Trump, who won the China Open earlier this month, faces a significant test in 2015 UK Championship runner-up Liang.
"The very first match that came out, Trump against Liang, what a first round that is," said World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn. "That will be sensational and my pick for the first round."
All eyes were on China's number one player Ding Junhui, who had to qualify after slipping out of the top 16, and he comes up against Englishman Martin Gould.
Other standout ties see Northern Irishman Mark Allen come up against world number 74 Mitchell Mann, the only debutant this year, and an all-Scottish clash between Stephen Maguire and Alan McManus.
"Just because he is number 32 seed, it still won't be easy," said Allen. "I won the Players Championship, the last tournament I played in, but it is different pressure here. The place brings back special memories and there is so much history here."
This year's tournament sees 28 of the top 32 players in the world in action, with every champion from this century looking to win the title again.
Full draw
Stuart Bingham v Ali Carter
Stephen Maguire v Alan McManus
Ricky Walden v Robbie Williams
John Higgins v Ryan Day
Judd Trump v Liang Wenbo
Martin Gould v Ding Junhui
Mark Williams v Graeme Dott
Neil Robertson v Michael Holt
Shaun Murphy v Anthony McGill
Marco Fu v Peter Ebdon
Barry Hawkins v Zhang Anda
Ronnie O'Sullivan v David Gilbert
Mark Allen v Mitchell Mann
Joe Perry v Kyren Wilson
Michael White v Sam Baird
Mark Selby v Robert Milkins
Defending champion Stuart Bingham faces two-time runner-up Ali Carter in the first round of the World Championship.