For the first time in North Carolina sports betting, the Tar Heel State has a month to compare to, and it happens to be an incredibly important one.
In a basketball-centric market, the North Carolina State Lottery Commission reported Monday bettors wagered $685 million during March Madness, the state's highest ever. The new record handle surpassed Mar. 2024's $659.3 million, a 3.9% increase compared to North Carolina’s first month of online sports betting.
Bettors won back $643.6 million of the total handle, the most-ever in 13 months, from eight North Carolina sports betting operators. College basketball conference tournaments and NCAA tournaments led to sportsbooks' $38.1 million in gross revenue, a 42.7% year-over-year decrease.
The 5.6% hold represents operators’ lowest win rate yet and is half of what 2025's first two months recorded combined.
| N.C. Sports Betting | Handle | Revenue | Tax (estimated) |
| March | $685,003,031 | $38,140,361 | $6,865,265 |
Monthly revenue plummets again
Operators couldn't capitalize on a March handle up 26% month-over-month and the fifth over $600 million over the last six months. March’s gross revenue was the third lowest North Carolina sportsbooks produced, behind Aug. 2024 and Dec. 2024.
Sportsbooks also hauled in 16.2% less profit than February’s $55.6 million, the second consecutive month with an income drop. However, books did benefit from handing out $17.9 million in promotional credits, up slightly from the previous month but down significantly from the record $202.6 million given in Mar. 2024.
Despite the uptick in action March Madness presented, the Tar Heel State’s estimated revenue from an 18% tax rate fell from $10 million in February to $6.9 million in the latest monthly report.
Lack of upsets
It didn’t help North Carolina online sports betting operators that in-state Duke covered in four of its first five postseason games and easily rolled into the Final Four. That helped cash plenty of moneyline parlays along the way during a favorite-heavy March.
The Final Four included all four No. 1 seeds for just the second time ever, but North Carolina operators might make some of that money back in April. Houston kept the Blue Devils from the national championship game on Saturday with a furious late rally.
Not only did Duke fail to cover the spread or moneyline, but its departure killed off futures bets on the Blue Devils to win it all as well.
