Two legs of horse racing’s ultimate test, the Triple Crown, are done, with one to go: the Belmont Stakes. However, bettors in North Carolina will not be able to bet on the Belmont Stakes in 2024.
In June 2023, North Carolina passed House Bill 347, which legalized online sports betting and parimutuel horse race wagering. While NC online sports betting took off like a rocket on March 11, parimutuel wagering and advanced deposit wagering (ADW) have yet to go live.
High licensing fees prohibitive for horse race betting in North Carolina
One important clause in HB 347 is the license fee to offer advance deposit wagering (ADW). Each ADW license applicant would be required to pay a fee of $1,000,000, renewable every five years, to allow bettors to wager through horse racing sites and online sportsbooks offering horse racing.
An applicant also would be required to pay a 1% tax annually on the cumulative pari-mutuel wagering volume in North Carolina. Currently, North Carolina horse race betting is legal but not operating because no operator has completed an ADW license to offer pari-mutuel wagering.
Some lawmakers see the steep licensing fee, the highest in the country by a long shot, as a serious impediment to the launch of parimutuel horse race wagering. The NC Lottery Commission, the sports betting and parimutuel wagering industry regulator, hasn’t even opened the licensing application portal. A possible legislative fix could be in order, and the State General Assembly has roughly two months to make such a change.
When is the Belmont Stakes?
The Belmont Stakes runs on June 8, 2024, at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Belmont Park, the traditional home of the Belmont Stakes, is under construction, so the race has moved two hundred miles north to Saratoga, considered by some to be the oldest sporting venue in the country.
North Carolinians interested in betting on the race will have to cross state lines to neighboring Virginia to use various ADW online sites.
Image Credit: Reid Burchell / AP Images
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