The North Carolina State Lottery Commission published its April 2026 Sports Betting Revenue Report this week, showing $612.5 million in total wagering revenue across the seven licensed online operators. April was the second-slowest month of fiscal year 2026; a predictable post-March-Madness softening as college basketball season wound down and Major League Baseball had yet to fully ramp.
April 2026 at a glance
| Metric | April 2026 |
|---|---|
| Total wagering revenue (handle) | $612,495,383 |
| Paid wagering revenue | $594,467,972 |
| Promo wagering revenue | $18,027,410 |
| Amounts paid as winnings | $544,486,003 |
| Gross wagering revenue (GGR) | $64,464,939 |
| Estimated tax proceeds (18% of GGR) | $11,603,689 |
| Implied operator hold | 10.5% |
Source: NCSLC Sports Betting Revenue Report, FY 2026.
Month-over-month: 15.7% drop from March
April handle fell 15.7% from March’s $726.2 million; a steeper decline than typical seasonal softening. Two factors drove the drop:
- NCAA Tournament ended in early April. Only the Final Four and Championship game (April 4-6) fell in the reporting month, versus the entire round-of-32 and Sweet 16 in March.
- MLB Opening Day fell on March 26, 2026; meaning baseball’s early-season volume was split across March and April rather than concentrated in April as in some prior years.
Despite the dip, April was not the slowest fiscal-year month. February 2026 took $596.1M and February 2025 (the comparable post-Super-Bowl, pre-March-Madness window) sat below $500M, suggesting the NC market floor has risen meaningfully year-over-year.
Hold rate ticked up
Operators retained 10.5% of total handle as gross gaming revenue in April; slightly above the FY26 year-to-date average of 10.47%. Higher hold typically reflects:
- Favorite-heavy outcomes in NBA playoff first round (most spreads went chalk)
- Strong week for unders in low-scoring NHL playoff series
- Limited bettor success on Masters and PGA Tour outcomes
The 10.5% hold contrasts sharply with July 2025’s outlier 6.1% hold (a bettor-friendly month for operators’ margins) and is closer to historical industry norms for mature state markets.
YTD: NC tracks toward record FY
With ten months of FY26 data published (July 2025 through April 2026), NC operators have produced:
| FY26 YTD (10 months) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cumulative handle | $6.45 billion |
| Cumulative GGR | $674.9 million |
| Cumulative tax proceeds | $121.5 million |
| Cumulative promo spending | $193.3 million |
With May and June still ahead; and the NBA Finals, NHL Stanley Cup Final, Belmont Stakes, NCAA Tournament’s final fiscal credit, and Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway; projected full-year FY26 tax revenue tracks toward $145M+, comfortably above FY25.
November 2025 still holds the monthly handle record
The April release reaffirmed that November 2025’s $814.0M handle remains the all-time NC monthly record; narrowly edging October 2025’s $811.4M. November also produced the largest single-month tax revenue at $16.7M, driven by peak NFL season volume.
What’s next: May and June 2026
May historically produces strong NBA Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final handle, plus the Memorial Day weekend Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Carolina Hurricanes’ 2026 NHL Playoff run also contributed to elevated NC NHL betting volume in May; a meaningful boost given the Hurricanes’ status as the official sportsbook partner of FanDuel.
The NCSLC will publish May 2026 data in mid-June.
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