North Carolina sports betting is celebrating a successful first year that saw the state earn a projected $128 million in tax revenue since the market launch on March 11, 2024.
An anniversary report released by the North Carolina State Lottery Commission says sports betting operators accepted more than $6.6 billion in bets in the first year of legalization. Those wagers resulted in $5.85 billion being won by consumers.
North Carolina levies an 18% tax on the gross wagering revenue from sports wagering. Gross wagering revenue is defined as “the money received by an interactive operator from sports wagers, minus the amount paid as winnings before any deductions for expenses, fees, or taxes.”
North Carolina has eight licensed sportsbooks. Those operators have combined for roughly $713 million in gross wagering revenue for the first 12 months in the state.
Tax revenue from that activity helps fund “collegiate sports, youth sports, major events, games and attractions,” according to the state. A portion is also allocated to the state’s general fund. North Carolina has also set aside $2 million of the tax revenue for research into how sports betting impacts potential gambling addictions in teens and adults.
“From the moment work began, the goals stayed the same: to create a program that protects North Carolinians and raises revenue for our state responsibly,” said Chief Regulatory Officer Eric Snider on the occasion of the anniversary.
How North Carolina’s first year compares to other states
Was North Carolina’s first year actually that good? In a word, yes. A comparison with other states shows that the numbers don’t just sound big, they are big in comparative terms.
North Carolina is the most recent state to launch sports betting, following a flurry of state launches from 2019 to 2023. Other states with similarly large populations have had great success in their first year, but North Carolina seems to be benefitting from a mature national market. When it launched sports betting apps in 2024, North Carolina had the advantage that consumers are familiar with seeing odds and sports betting in popular culture.
Michigan has roughly the same population as North Carolina (the Great Lakes State has about half a million fewer people). Michigan’s first full year of sports betting was 2021. That year Michigan reported $3.96 billion in total handle, and $319 million in gross revenue for its sports betting operators. Those figures are roughly half of what North Carolina had in its first 12 months.
On the other hand, North Carolina didn’t to quite as well as Ohio, which is a slightly larger state. In Ohio, sports betting launched in 2022, but its first 12 months completed in 2023. For that first year, Ohio bettors wagered a whopping $7.6 billion, with revenues reported at $936 million, according to the Ohio Casino Control Commission. Although those numbers are 15% and 30% larger than North Carolina’s, Ohio also has nearly a million more people betting.
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