This evening, Churchill Downs will host the 152nd Kentucky Derby. Somewhere in Charlotte or Asheville, a fan wearing a borrowed seersucker jacket will pour a mint julep, settle down on the couch, and realize once more that he cannot lawfully wager two dollars on the horse he likes. It has now been over two years since that little absurdity. In March 2024, sports betting was made legal in North Carolina. The idea was that horse racing would follow suit. It didn’t.
These mechanics are peculiar and somewhat embarrassing for the state. In theory, pari-mutuel horse race betting was made possible by House Bill 347, which was signed in 2023. After the rulemaking was turned over to the North Carolina State Lottery Commission, things came to a standstill. For a five-year license, operators must pay a million dollars.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Event | 152nd Kentucky Derby |
| Date | Saturday, May 2, 2026 |
| Location | Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky |
| Post Time | 6:57 p.m. ET |
| North Carolina Law | House Bill 347, signed 2023 |
| Sports Betting Launch in NC | March 2024 |
| Total Wagers Placed in NC | Roughly $14 billion |
| Tax Revenue Collected | Over $275 million |
| Licensed Operators | Eight legal sportsbooks |
| Horse Race Betting Status | Still unavailable |
| License Fee | $1 million for five years |
| Comparison | Ten times higher than New York’s annual fee |
| Regulatory Body | North Carolina State Lottery Commission |
No one has submitted an application. Not one. In a 2024 report, the commission itself identified the cost as a potential issue, noting that New York has the highest annual fee in the nation at $20,000. For a market that is, in all honesty, smaller and less developed, North Carolina is requesting ten times that up front.
The legislature might not have given this enough thought. It’s also possible that they did, and the cost was a kind of silent wall that was meant to appear friendly without actually opening anything. The outcome is the same in either case. Since the site’s inception, bettors have placed about $14 billion on basketball, football, and the occasional UFC card. Over $275 million in taxes have been collected by the state. Additionally, the sport that gave rise to American gambling culture is watched rather than played on the first Saturday in May.
The lottery commission’s public information officer, Ryan Carter, told WRAL that work on a pari-mutuel program is still ongoing. He used the expression “beneficial for the state,” which is what people say when they don’t want to commit to a date. It doesn’t exist. The commission has proposed a workaround that would require a legislative fix: allowing an advance-deposit wagering platform to collaborate with an already-existing sportsbook. Lawmakers have not taken notice of it because they are preoccupied with other matters.
In the meantime, the overall picture is more complicated than the initial sales pitch implied. The 2023 bill’s sponsors pledged significant funding for both the general fund and university athletics. In actuality, net proceeds to the public good accounted for less than two percent of total sales, according to the commission’s own December figures.
The Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement received two million dollars to enforce the under-18 ban and has cited exactly zero people, according to critics like retired deputy state treasurer Charles Heatherly. Three out of four college students reported gambling in the previous year, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. Observing all of this, it seems as though the state legalized the simple aspects while ignoring the difficult ones.
Fans of horse racing are currently caught in that void. Some will end up at offshore locations, which is precisely what the law was meant to deter. Some will simply wait, finish the julep, and watch the race. At 6:57 p.m., the Derby begins. Someone will be covered with the roses. Additionally, the current betting windows in North Carolina will remain closed for an additional year.
