(The Center Square) – All primed and ready for horse racing’s Triple Crown? And ready to place your bets?
Not in North Carolina, no matter the sportsbook bettors hooked up to when sports wagering became legal in the state on March 11, 2024.
Sports Wagering/Horse Racing Wagering, as the 2023-24 legislative session’s House Bill 347 was also known, in part says it “does not authorize non-pari-mutuel wagering on the outcome of live, simulcast, or any other horse races.”
That makes Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, the start of the famed Triple Crown over the next six weekends, just another race when it comes to the state law. Even if everyone in the Bluegrass State will say otherwise.
Two years after sports wagering became legal in the state, work continues to add pari-mutuel horse race wagering.
Through March, according to the North Carolina Lottery Commission reports, legal sports wagering even without the ponies is good for better than $367,000 a day to state coffers. The pace this fiscal year is for $146 million when the books close June 30.
The calculation for state coffers is 18% of the gross wagering revenue. That sum is the amounts received by interactive sports wagering operators from sports wagers as authorized under state law, less the amounts paid as winnings before any deductions for expenses, fees or taxes.
Five things, per Session Law 2023-42, can happen with the proceeds. There’s $2 million annually to the Department of Health and Human Services for gambling addiction education and treatment programs; and there’s $1 million annually to the North Carolina Amateur Sports to expand youth sports opportunities.
Also annually, a third element is $300,000 to each of 13 state public school collegiate athletic departments. Fourth is $1 million annually to the N.C. Youth Outdoor Engagement Commission, which awards grants.
About 30% goes to help North Carolina attract major sporting events.
