DraftKings continued to dominate the mobile sports wagering scene in its home state of Massachusetts, again accounting for more than 50% of the online handle as total wagers accepted reached $512.2 million in September, according to figures compiled by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
It was the third time the Bay State cleared half a billion dollars in handle, as it became the 11th state in 2023 to surpass $3 billion in total wagers accepted. Handle was up 62.6% compared to August, as Massachusetts bettors were able to wager on NFL regular-season games for the first time following the state’s Jan. 31 launch.
DraftKings, which is headquartered in Boston, set an all-time handle high for any mobile operator in the state with $290.1 million in September. That bettered its previous standard of $283.8 million in April and marked the third time it had cleared $250 million since mobile wagering launched in March.
The online titan had a 9.7% hold, which was within shouting distance of the statewide win rate of three-hundredths of a point below 10%. It was the fourth time in six months of mobile wagering that the statewide hold was 9.9% or higher.
The state was able to tax $49.8 million of the $51 million in gross revenue, resulting in an inflow of $9.9 million into state coffers. Massachusetts has collected close to $60.3 million overall in taxes, with September’s more than double August’s total of $4.5 million, as gross revenue was up 117.3% compared to the previous month.
DraftKings notches 50-50 double
Running 2023 YTD Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state (thru Sept in CAPS)
1 NEW YORK $13B
2 Illinois $6.69B
3 New Jersey $6.47B
4 Nevada $4.87B
5 Ohio $4.54B
6 Pennsylvania $4.27B
7 Arizona $3.91B
8 Virginia $3.23B
9 Colorado $3.17B
10 MASSACHUSETTS $3.08B#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) October 16, 2023
In addition to accounting for more than half the state’s handle, DraftKings did the same for gross revenue, keeping $27.5 million. That is its third-highest total in Massachusetts, trailing the $30.1 million in May and $28.3 million in April. DraftKings has accounted for more than half the total mobile handle in the state with $1.52 billion and has fashioned a 9.6% hold in claiming $145.4 million in gross revenue.
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After being held below a 10% hold by the betting public in August, FanDuel bounced back to post an 11.7% win rate while collecting $14.2 million in revenue. That was nearly double the $7.6 million won in August and enough to push FanDuel over the $100 million mark in gross revenue for 2023.
BetMGM, meanwhile, is the only mobile operator to post a double-digit hold in every month, making it 7-for-7 after ticking 11% in September. It kept over $3.6 million of the $33.5 million handle generated while moving past $225 million in total handle since launch.
Caesars Sportsbook was the only other operator to reach seven figures for revenue in September, totaling more than $1.6 million from $18.1 million handle for a hold of 9%. PENN Entertainment came within $26,000 of $1 million, as the outgoing Barstool Sportsbook fashioned a 7.5% win rate from $13 million worth of accepted wagers.
Fanatics Sportsbook had its best month in Massachusetts, more than doubling its handle from August to $8.9 million. Its hold, though, plunged more than six percentage points to 6.5%, and its $577,000-plus in revenue was an increase of less than $24,000 from last month’s short-lived high.
Betr had its second-best month overall since its Massachusetts debut in May, generating just over $303,000 worth of wagers and crafting a hold of 9.5% to keep close to $28,700 in gross revenue. WynnBET failed to reach the industry standard hold of 7% for the fifth time in six months, but its 6.3% win rate was still enough to keep more than $868,000 of $13.9 million in handle generated.
MGM Springfield routs public on retail side
September #SportsBetting numbers 🧵for #Massachusetts via MGC. Mobile/Retail Han/GGR/WR
Mobile: $499.75M/$50.23M/10.05%
YTD: $2.98B/$303.06M/10.18%Retail: $12.43M/$814.2K/6.55%
YTD: $106.09M/$7.32M/6.90%3/x #SportsBettingTwitter #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) October 16, 2023
The NFL provided a nice boost to the state’s retail books, as handle at the three venues surged 61.9% to $12.4 million. The combined hold from the trio was just below 6.6%, but MGM Springfield skewed that number higher with an 18.3% win rate while claiming more than $289,000 in gross revenue from $1.6 million wagered.
Plainridge Park was within $7,000 of MGM’s revenue total at nearly $283,000, but also had only a 6.1% hold on $4.6 million handle. Encore Harbor, which accounted for more than half the handle with over $6.2 million, only won back $242,000 as its 3.9% hold marked the third time in four months it was under 4%.
