“March Madness” proved to be a huge gateway for betting in North Carolina, where the state lottery commission reported $659.3 million handle via sports betting apps in just three weeks of action, according to figures released Tuesday.

Sports betting in the Tar Heel State launched March 11, right before the start of the ACC Tournament. NC State stunned many by winning five games in five days as the No. 10 seed to capture the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, knocking off Tobacco Road rivals Duke and North Carolina along the way.

The Wolfpack then took their fans and Tar Heel State bettors on a wilder ride by reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1982, doing so as a No. 11 seed. They beat Duke in the South Region finals to cap off their stunning run, losing to Purdue in the national semifinals.

The Tobacco Road schools played a total of 11 NCAA Tournament games as all three advanced to at least the regional semifinals. The same three schools on the women’s side played 10 NCAA Tournament games, with the Wolfpack Women also reaching the Final Four, their first since 1998.

1 New York $1.85B
2 NORTH CAROLINA $659.3M
3 Mass. $654.9M
4 Maryland $536.7M
5 Indiana $500.8M
6 MICHIGAN $497.6M
7 Tenn. ~$472M
8 Louisiana $350M
9 Iowa $272.4M
10 Kansas $252.9M#SportsBettingX #GamblingX

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) April 16, 2024

The North Carolina State Lottery Commission did not break down handle and revenue figures by either sport or operator, but the numbers show a solid performance by the house. The state reported $66.5 million in gross revenue, which put the hold at 10.1%. When deducting the 0.25% federal excise tax, the adjusted gross revenue comes out to $64.8 million, which resulted in close to $11.7 million worth of tax receipts for the Tar Heel State provided all eight operators finished with taxable AGR.

The eight mobile operators in North Carolina were more than happy to keep bettors engaged throughout the tournament as they lavished $202.6 million worth of credits and bonuses statewide. Promotional play accounted for slightly more than 30% of the total handle. As a point of comparison, the $320 million in such credits distributed in Ohio when the Buckeye State launched in January 2023 accounted for 28.7% of the $1.11 billion handle in its initial month of wagering.