Bettors in Massachusetts continued to flock to the sportsbooks in November and, on top of that, were able to increase their winning percentage.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission announced that the state enjoyed another incredible month of sports betting action, hitting $654.4 million in bets, a nearly 15% monthly increase. The online sportsbooks saw $636.7 million in bets while the retail locations took in just $17.6 million.
Of the eight mobile operators in the Bay State, DraftKings was the obvious frontrunner again. The Boston-based sportsbook saw $320 million in handle, more than $100 million more than the second highest book. However, DraftKings’ control of the market dropped from 53% of all wagers to 49%.
FanDuel was the only other company to hit a nine-figure handle. Its $181.5 million was more than the other six sportsbooks combined.
From those wagers, the online operators reported $48.5 million in taxable revenue while the three retail locations contributed just $370,000. That means, despite the uptick in action, the sportsbooks revenue actually declined month over month. This is thanks to a significant dip in hold percentage.
The combined hold from all operators came to 7.7%, down from 10.5%. Specifically, the online sportsbooks dropped from 10.7% to 7.8%, while the brick-and-mortar locations saw their hold fall from 6.3% to 2.3%.
All in all, the state received $9.7 million in taxes, compared to the $11.7 million in October.
ESPN BET sees success in the Bay State
November saw the launch of ESPN’s sportsbook (under PENN Entertainment) and Massachusetts sports betting enthusiasts appeared eager to try it out.
ESPN BET reported a handle of $39 million, barely beating BetMGM for third place in the state. And the book's nearly 15% hold was the largest of all the operators. As such, ESPN BET's revenue of $5.7 million was more than the five remaining books (not counting DraftKings and FanDuel) combined.
Compared to October (under the Barstool name), PENN Entertainment saw $13.9 million in wagers and just $1.4 million in revenue.
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Retail market share changes
The Encore Boston Harbor, which led all retail books in October, saw a decline in wagers last month, from $8.2 million to $7 million. Instead, Plainridge Park Casino reported the most action in November with $7.7 million, although thanks to a paltry 0.4% hold, the casino made just $33,000.
MGM Springfield remained a distant third with $2.9 million in bets.
