In less than 11 months and before Sunday’s Super Bowl, North Carolina sports bettors have wagered more than $6 billion through the state’s legal operators.

The North Carolina State Lottery Commission released sports betting figures for January on Monday morning. The totals do not include the Super Bowl.

It was another good month for the operators as bettors wagered more than $646.9 million in paid and promotional bets. Bettors collected $568.5 million in winnings.

The operators paid $13.4 million in taxes. It is the third time in five months, since the start of football season, that the state collected more than $12.6 million in taxes. North Carolina charges operators an 18% tax on gross wagering revenue.

North Carolina has collected more than $118 million in taxes from the operators since the launch of legal online sports betting on March 11. The money goes to a variety of places, including the athletic departments at UNC System schools, not including NC State or UNC.

Of the total $6 billion bet, nearly 5.6 billion is in paid wagers. The other $474 million is in promotional or free bets that the operators offer to attract and retain customers.

The Super Bowl is the largest betting day of the year. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the favored Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 on Sunday. It was the first Super Bowl that widespread legal sports betting was allowed in the state. The totals for February won’t be released until March.

GeoComply, which monitors log-ins to online accounts and verifies users’ locations, said there was a 14% yearly increase in active player accounts during Super Bowl weekend.

North Carolina bettors must pay taxes on their winnings and can’t write off their losses, unlike on federal taxes. They are expected to claim those winnings even if they are not provided a tax from the operator and they must claim their winnings regardless of how much they won, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Revenue confirmed to WRAL.

North Carolina bettors have been paid out more than $4.7 billion in winnings in 2024. If taxpayers claim all those winnings, they will owe about $212 million in state taxes under the 4.5% state income tax rate that was in effect in 2024.

Some lawmakers have introduced legislation to change the tax policy, retroactive to the state of 2024.

Source: wral.com