Massachusetts receives $300k sports betting revenue for February

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission announced on Wednesday that for the month of February, the state received over $301,000 in retail sports betting taxes.

February is the first full month of sports betting in Massachusetts, and it recorded over $25.7 million in bets across the three licensed brick-and-mortar casinos in the state. After all the bets were settled, the three retail books, Encore Boston, Plainridge Park, and MGM Springfield, recorded over $2 million in Gross operator revenue, resulting in an under 8.1% hold.

The state’s tax percentage is 15% on the slightly over $2 million gross operator revenue, earning it an inflow of over $301,000.

The three sports books recorded positive AGR in February, a significant improvement from their results following the January 31 launch. WynnBET-powered Encore Boston Harbor notably reported a one-day loss of over $73,000.

This time, Encore Harbor was in the lead and recorded $16.9 million in wagers accepted. The figure is twice the $7.1 million posted by Plainridge Park, while MGM Springfield generated $1.7 million out of the statewide $25.7 million total.

Encore’s hold rate for every dollar wagered in the establishment was 5.3%, just shy of $901,000 and the lowest win rate among the three in-person books. Plainridge Park held a 12.8% share of the wagered amounts, which resulted in slightly lower than $891,000.

MGM Springfield held the highest share and top revenue spot among the group at 15.1% totaling slightly more than $905,000. Encore had to pay $129,000 to the state, while Plainridge and MGM Springfield paid $129,000 and $39,000, respectively.

The Gaming Commission did not specify revenue and handle by sport category in the February report. Only the top line number of gross revenue, handle, tax receipts to the state, and adjusted gross income were provided.

Revenue from mobile sports betting was not accounted for in the revenue records for February. The activity was launched on March 10, with six authorized online books taking bets. According to GeoComply, in the three opening days of mobile betting, more than 8.1 million geolocation transactions were made using over 406,000 accounts across all six online books.

The mobile betting figures will be included in the mid-April report and are expected to significantly increase revenue. Online betting is expected to generate around 80% of sports betting revenue in the state. It is taxed at 20%, 5% higher than in-person sports betting.

Both February and March have two major sporting events that make it difficult to use the revenue from these months to predict realistic annual tax and revenue figures. February’s event was the Super Bowl which brought in massive numbers, and the NCAA Tournament basketball will take place in March.

Due to the revenue anomalies in these two months, April’s revenue report, which will be released in mid-May, stands a better chance of showing what a regular sports betting month is like in Massachusetts.
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