A little more than two years after North Carolina launched online sports betting, state lawmakers reportedly believe it’s time to increase how much they charge sportsbooks to do business in the state.
As reported by Raleigh-based media outlet WRAL News, legislators agreed to increase the online sports wagering tax rate as part of the state’s budget discussions in recent days, with the aim of generating more revenue to pay for other budget priorities.
North Carolina currently charges an 18% tax rate on its seven licensed online sportsbooks:
- bet365
- BetMGM
- Caesars
- DraftKings
- Fanatics
- FanDuel
- theScore Bet
An eighth approved licensee, Underdog, abandoned its sports wagering operations last December to instead focus on offering sports prediction markets.
What could North Carolina’s new sports betting tax rate be?
WRAL reported that although North Carolina’s House budget writer Donny Lambeth confirmed that both chambers of the legislature have agreed to raise the tax rate, he did not offer any details on what the new rate might be. The media outlet added that sources have suggested that legislators could land on a figure between 20% and 25%.
“I think, on our side of the building, it’s more so looking at, ‘How do we line up with other states?’” said House Speaker Destin Hall, per WRAL. “We want to be on the average of what other states are doing on a lot of these rates. A lot of the ideas are out there. I think we’re somewhat hesitant to tweak too much a program that’s worked pretty well for the state, all things considered.”
North Carolina’s 18% tax rate has yielded nearly $300m in sports betting tax revenue for the government since the state launched online sports wagering in March 2024. The state made around $117m in revenue from regulated sports wagering in the 2025 fiscal year.
Those totals significantly exceed the initial projections that were touted during around the time that state lawmakers legalized sports betting in 2023. Then, the fiscal estimates were that the state would make around $50m in tax revenue in FY25, considerably less than half the actual realized total.
The Sports Betting Alliance, whose five members are all operational in North Carolina, told WRAL that raising the tax rate would “penalize” licensed operators and have adverse effects on the state’s colleges and universities, some of which benefit from a cut of the tax revenue.
NC previously mulled doubling betting tax to 36%
Despite pushback from sportsbooks, North Carolina lawmakers have flirted with the idea of raising its sports betting tax before.
Last year’s budget discussions included an idea from the state Senate to double the sports betting tax rate to 36%, which would have put the Tar Heel State near the top end of the state-by-state sports wagering tax scale. That proposal passed the Senate but was abandoned in the House-approved version of the budget.
It remains to be seen whether this year’s idea of a somewhat smaller tax hike makes it into the final approved budget, which lawmakers reportedly hope to finalize by July 1. The report that both chambers have agreed to the concept (if not the final figure) may suggest that it has legs in 2026 that it did not have in 2025, but WRAL noted that there is no guarantee that the tax hike will not be scratched in the coming weeks.
