North Carolina athletes bet a total of $659.3 million (£528.7 million/€617.8 million) online in sports during March, the first month of legal sports betting in the state of Tar Heel. The state opened a regulated sports betting market on March 11. Figures released by the North Carolina Lottery Commission cover the period from the release date to the end of March.
Of the total bet amount in the opening weeks, consumers spent $456.7 million on bets. An additional $222.6 million was approved for promotional bets offered by operators. While $2.1 million worth of bets were invalidated or canceled, players earned a total of $590.8 million in sports bets during this period. As such, the total bet revenue reached $66.5 million during the first few weeks of legal bets.
But the commission has not released data on the tax. State law imposes an 18% tax rate on the total betting revenue of each sports betting operator in North Carolina. The first-month numbers come after the commission released data in early April on the first week of betting. During the first week, more than $198 million was betted online for sports in North Carolina. Further analysis showed that more than $24 million was betted on the first day of the market.
Who is active in North Carolina?
Currently, eight operators in North Carolina hold two-way betting licenses and offer online betting. The established brands, FanDuel, Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, Fanatics, Bet365, BetMGM, ESPN Bet, and Underdog, are all active.
To provide sports betting in the state, operators must partner with sports teams, leagues or stadiums within North Carolina. All licensees currently have these agreements in place.
These include DraftKings, which is in partnership with the stock car racing series NASCAR. Meanwhile, BetMGM is working with Charlotte Motor Speedway, and ESPN is working with golf’s PGA Tour and Wells Fargo Championship.
Other partnerships include Fanatics Betting and Gaming and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. In addition, Underdog expanded its position as a paid fantasy sports operator in the state through a partnership with McConnell Golf.
Businesses’ Positive Early Response
There has been a positive response from licensees in North Carolina in the early weeks of operation. 안전놀이터 추천
Kevin Hennessey, vice president of communications at Fanatics Sportsbook, said the rollout process was “very smooth.” A DraftKings spokesperson reiterated those comments, saying they saw “big engagement” in the state.