A look at sports betting in North Carolina one month after becoming legal

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — It’s been more than a month since sports betting became legal in North Carolina and the numbers are staggering, as are the tax implications.

According to the North Carolina Lottery Commissioner, between March 11th and March 31st, North Carolinians bet close to $660 million.

From all those wagers, bettors won over $590 million, which generated more than $66 million in revenue for the operators and the state.

Karen Durda owns Century Accounting and Tax Services.

If you’re winning money on sports bets, she said you need to start preparing to fill out more forms for your 2024 taxes.

“Once you reach that threshold of $600, by January of 2025, you will get a W2G and the first box is going to say gambling winnings,” Durda said.

Steve Bittenbender is an analyst for BetCarolina.com

While the upcoming months will likely see less action, he’s looking forward to what happens this fall.

“I’m really excited and interested to see what North Carolina is gonna be like for football betting,” Bittenbender said. “Because not, only do you have a lot of college football teams in the state and you have the Panthers, you’ve also got South Carolina and Clemson right on your backdoor there.”

Altogether, North Carolina received close to $12 million in revenue from the first month of sports betting.