Poole Researchers Uncover Tax Costs of Gambling

SportsHandle, a digital publication that covers legal gambling in the United States, recently highlighted Poole College research on the lose-lose tax proposition facing North Carolina gamblers. 

“North Carolina doesn’t have itemized deductions for gambling,” Poole economist Nathan Goldman told SportsHandle. “There is a flat tax of 4.5 percent on gambling winnings. As an example, if you bet $22 and won $20, that $20 you just won is being taxed at 4.5%. But if you bet $22 again and lose, you don’t get to write off the $22, which means you’re down $2 in total, but still have to pay the 4.5%—about 90 cents—in taxes on the first bet.”

Goldman and co-author Christina Lewellen, a fellow Poole associate professor, traced the tax implications to a  2015 state law that eliminated itemized deductions for gambling.