The Massachusetts Gaming Commission reported sports betting revenue totaling more than $654.4 million for November on Friday, as the first extensive convergence of available wagering on Boston’s professional sports teams proved a popular draw in the Bay State.
Though the New England Patriots are sloughing through a rare down season, the Boston Bruins have picked up where they left off in terms of regular-season play from 2022-23, and the Celtics are tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the NBA‘s best record heading into play Friday night. Massachusetts‘ November handle toppled the previous record of $579.3 million set in April and was 14.5% higher than October’s $571.8 million.
Operators, though, could not make the bigger pot lead to more revenue. The three retail sportsbooks and eight betting apps combined for $50.6 million in gross revenue, resulting in a reasonable 7.7% hold. The winnings were down 16.5% versus October, but still enough to send the year-to-date total above $420 million.
The state was able to levy taxes on $48.9 million in adjusted gross revenue, creating an inflow of nearly $9.8 million into Bay State tax coffers. Massachusetts has generated $81.8 million in taxes from sports betting since launch Jan. 31, and handle topped $4.3 billion with the November figures.
ESPN BET comes in swinging
Massachusetts is the fifth state with figures where PENN Entertainment launched ESPN BET in mid-November, and the early reports continue to be encouraging. PENN finished third among the eight operators in handle with $39.1 million worth of accepted wagers — 6.1% of the mobile handle — though the MGC does not disclose how much of that wagering came from promotional offers.
ESPN BET has crafted a higher-than-expected hold since launch. Its robust 14.9% win rate led all mobile operators and was more than double the 6.9% attained by FanDuel, the usual marketplace leader in that category. ESPN BET also generated $5.8 million in gross revenue in Massachusetts, comfortably third in the online pecking order, and has claimed $17.1 million in revenue from the five states that break out totals. More impressively, it has fashioned a 12.5% hold from $136.7 million combined handle in those markets.
The rebranded sportsbook’s debut was almost enough to knock DraftKings below 50% market share in its home state. DraftKings still set a state record for monthly handle at $320 million, and it still has more than half the state’s total mobile handle of $2.14 billion. DraftKings posted a 8.5% hold for November to claim close to $27.2 million in gross revenue.
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FanDuel was a clear-cut second, narrowly setting an all-time high for handle at $181.5 million, though its hold was an all-time low. The result was almost $12.6 million in revenue, down 21% from September despite a 16.7% bounce in wagers accepted.
BetMGM took fourth in both handle and revenue, generating $3.1 million in revenue from $38.9 million handle for a 7.9% hold. Fanatics Sportsbook rounded out the top five for revenue with close to $730,000 despite a 4.6% hold on $15.8 million. This came about in part because Caesars had a state-low 1.5% win rate for mobile operators that limited it to just over $403,000 in winnings.
WynnBET‘s handle inched higher to $13.8 million, but its revenue plunged 70% to just over $322,000, as its win rate tumbled more than 5.6 percentage points to almost 2.1%. Betr had mixed results thanks to a 12.5% hold. Its revenue was up 13.2% to $24,295, but handle slacked 40% to less than $195,000 as it cleared $2 million worth of wagers accepted since launch.
Bettors fare well versus brick-and-mortar books
Running NOVEMBER Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:
1 New York $2.12B
2 MASS. $654.4M
3 Maryland $550.7M
4 Tennessee $515.5M
5 Indiana $513.7M
6 Iowa ~$289.7M
7 Kansas $260.9M
8 Oregon $71.2M
9 West Virginia $52.5M
10 Maine $37.6M#sportsbettingtwitter #GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) December 15, 2023
Though the state’s three retail sportsbooks were active — the $17.7 million handle was third-highest this year — the betting public kept them in check in limiting the trio to a hold under 2.4% and less than $415,000 in winnings. Encore Boston Harbor was the lone venue of the three to reach six figures for revenue in November, keeping just over $306,000 from slightly more than $7 million bet while crafting a 4.4% win rate.
Plainridge Park topped the three in handle with $7.7 million worth of accepted bets, but it finished last in revenue with just over $33,000 and a 0.4% hold. In between was MGM Springfield, which posted a win rate of 2.6% to to keep almost $75,200 from $2.9 million wagered.
