Massachusetts sports betting revenue jumps 28% in April as heavyweights dominate

Massachusetts continued its strong start to life as an online sports betting market in April, with the state’s licensed operators generating $58.5m in revenue, up 28% from its debut month in March, according to the latest figures from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC).

The Commonwealth’s six licensed operators raked in wagers totalling $566.2m overall in April, up 3% from the previous month, with Boston-based DraftKings taking $283.8m in bets, ahead of long-term rival FanDuel, which could only manage $172.6m.

BetMGM took the ‘best of the rest’ title in respect of wagers, with $42.9m in handle, ahead of the Barstool Sportsbook with $24.5m and WynnBet, with $22.8m. Caesars received the wooden spoon for April, only taking $19.4m in handle over the month.

DraftKings, with its leading handle figures, also dominated the revenue figures for April, generating $28.2m, beating FanDuel, which generated $21.7m in revenue over the same period.

The duo have carved out a seemingly unassailable lead in respect of revenue, with BetMGM a long way behind with just $4.6m, a total better than Barstool with $1.8m and Caesars, which overcame its poor handle numbers to generate $1.6m in revenue during April.

WynnBet saw revenue of just $405,977 that same month and was the worst-performing operator in respect of this performance metric.

The MGC collected $11.7m in taxes from licensed operators in April, based on the Commonwealth’s 20% tax rate for sports betting.

Of the total taxed amount for all operators, 45% is allotted to Massachusetts’ General Fund, 17.5% to the Workforce Investment Trust Fund, 27.5% to the Gaming Local Aid Fund, 1% to the Youth Development and Achievement Fund, and 9% to the Public Health Trust Fund.

In contrast to the online growth, Massachusetts retail betting handle dropped 34% month over month to just $13m in April, from a prior March high of $19.9m.

The state’s three licensed retail betting operators only generated $364,481 in revenue over the month, with taxation of 15% of revenue netting Massachusetts just $89,546 in taxes in April.

Of these three, Wynn Resorts Encore Boston Harbor property raked in the most handle during the month with $8m, followed by the Plainridge Park Casino with $3.3m and lastly MGM Springfield, which received just $1.6m in bets over April.

Plainridge Park Casino generated the highest revenue of the trio during April, at just $366,166, ahead of Encore Boston Harbor with $230,808 and MGM Springfield, which slid into negative figures for the first time, generating a loss of $232,493 over the month.

When an operator’s adjusted gross gambling revenue for a month is a negative number because the winnings paid to bettors and excise taxes paid pursuant to federal law exceed the operator’s total gross receipts from sports wagering, Massachusetts sports wagering law allows the operator to carry over the negative amount in tax liability to returns filed for subsequent months.