Sports betting spending in North Carolina was lower than the previous month, although revenue increased.
Sports betting retention in North Carolina hit 11.65% in May, with the state posting year-over-year increases in both revenue and volume.
Gross gambling revenue in May was $65.2 million, according to the North Carolina State Lottery Commission. That was up 3.33 percent from the previous year and 39.3 percent from April of this year.
However, this fell far short of the record $105.3 million set in April 2024. That was because, at that time, it was the first month of legal online gambling in the state.
North Carolina sees month-over-month decline
In terms of spending, paid bets reached $547.8 million and promotional bets reached $14.4 million. This resulted in a monthly total of $562.2 million in the state.
May’s total was 7% higher than last year’s total, but 2.4% below the $570.2 million wagered in April of this year. That amount was also below the state record of $695 million set in March 2025.
This resulted in a state retention of 11.65%, which is lower than the 12.01% in the same month in 2024. However, it is still an improvement over the 8.12% retention reported in April of this year.
The commission estimated tax collections at $11.7 million. That would be the highest monthly revenue since $13.4 million was generated in January.
The commission does not publish information on the performance of individual operators. FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Fanatics are among the operators active in the North Carolina market.
