North Carolina reports nearly $200m in handle in first week of legalized sports gambling
North Carolina Lottery Commission confirms that eight firms generated $42.7m in gross wagering revenue in the first week of the online sports betting market opening
The North Carolina State Lottery Commission has released sports betting figures for the opening week of legalized sports betting in the Tar Heel State, which showed total handle reaching $198.1m.
North Carolina became the 31st state to launch online sports betting on March 11 with eight operators – FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, ESPN Bet, Caesars, Fanatics, bet365 and Underdog – all vying for dominance.
The commission broke handle down by paid sports wagers reaching $116.8m and promotional spend of $81.3m.
It noted that operators paid out $141.6m in winnings to players in the opening week, meaning that the first week’s handle generated $42.7m in gross wagering revenue, subject to an 18% tax rate.
The commission also examined the betting activity in North Carolina on the opening day.
On March 11, the state’s eight operators licensed accepted $23.95m in bets and paid out $12.2m in winnings to players, leaving the firms with gross wagering revenue of more than $11m.
On the opening day, promotional wagers amounted to $12.3m, larger than paid wagers which landed at $11.6m.
The launch of North Carolina’s online sports betting market came in tandem with March Madness, with handle and revenue expected to spike on the back of the tournament.
Earlier this month, GeoComply reported that in the first 48 hours of the North Carolina sports betting market going live, there were nearly 370,000 active player accounts in the state.
The geolocation solutions supplier also confirmed that it had conducted more than 5.3 million geolocation checks in the state throughout the opening two days.
When the market went live, EGR gathered the reaction from the eight operators that went live in the Tar Heel State.