North Carolina will join Kentucky and Illinois in taxing prediction markets, after Gov. Josh Stein (D) signed Tuesday a $34 billion fiscal year 2026 budget bill that imposes a 6% levy on net trading fee revenue of companies that run the popular trading platforms.
The budget bill (SB 257) also includes a hike in sports betting taxes to 23%, from 18%, as state revenue officials wield new power to audit sports bettors’ records. Debate over the measure dragged on for more than a year before the Republican-controlled legislature announced a deal last week to end the stalemate over balancing the budget.
