North Carolina bettors lost more than $100M on sports wagering in April

Sports betting companies in North Carolina earned more than $105 million in gross revenue in April, the first full month of legalized sports betting in the state.

Bettors wagered more than $648 million, a bit less than in March ($659 million) when sports betting began. But they fared much worse, which led to large profits for the eight licensed operators in the state.

Bettors won $538.4 million in April, down than $52 million from March ($590 million). Losses were up nearly $40 million.

North Carolina will collect an 18% tax on the operators' revenue, meaning it will collect $18.9 million from April alone.

The operators have made $171.7 million in gross revenue since online sports betting went legal on March 11, leading to more than $30 million in tax revenue so far.

Promotional betting was down significantly from March when North Carolina wagered more than $200 million in promo bets. In April, that figure was less than $80 million as companies lessened the amount of promotions and bettors used up their original sign-up promotional bets.

Promos are used by the sports betting apps to entire new customers to sign up or to keep them betting.

So the amount of paid wagers (or wagers using real money and not credits or promos) went up significantly in April. The figure was about $457 million in March and $570 million April.