North Carolina’s two largest athletic departments would receive funds derived from legalized sports gambling under a House budget proposal released Monday evening — a reversal from the existing state law.
North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with athletic budgets that exceed $100 million annually, were left out of any tax revenue distribution under current law, which passed in 2023.
But tax revenue from sports betting, which launched in the state in mid-March, has far exceeded projections. The state will collect more than $42 million through the end of May.
“There’s so much more money coming in from sports betting than was originally forecast,” said Republican state Rep. Jason Saine, a sponsor of the original sports betting bill and a key budget writer.
