Massachusetts May Sports Betting Handle Up But Revenues Down Year-Over-Year

Monday revealed good and bad news for our best sports betting sites in Massachusetts.

The good news from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission May revenue report is that the Massachusetts sports betting handle climbed significantly year-over-year in May, and combined provider revenues increased month-over-month. The bad news is that overall wagering activity dipped from April’s haul, as did revenues compared to the same month in 2023.

Unsurprisingly, home-state DraftKings was the top-performing Massachusetts sports betting site, accounting for more than half of the mobile market share in the state. You can see what the behemoth offers with our DraftKings promo code.

$587.3 million May handle

Sports bettors in the Bay State spent $587.3 million with Massachusetts sports betting apps and retail providers in May. It is a year-over-year handle increase of about 32.4% from $457.1 million in May 2023 but is a month-over-month 2.7% decline from the $603.3 million in sports betting activity from April.

Massachusetts sports betting apps were responsible for about 98% of all wagers placed in the state last month.

With May’s legal sports betting handle added in, Massachusetts’ lifetime total eclipsed $8 billion—$7.79 billion of which came from the state’s online providers. Residents are clearly taking advantage of Massachusetts sportsbook promos.

$59 million in gross sports betting revenue 

Fifty-nine million in gross sports betting revenue was reported from Massachusetts sports betting providers in May. It is a slightly disappointing 4.9% year-over-year drop from nearly $62.1 million in May 2023 but a surprising and welcome 16.6% month-over-month jump from $50.6 million in April despite a lower handle.

Massachusetts' best sportsbooks enjoyed a 10.1% hold in May. That’s down from a record 13.6% hold in May 2023 but is significantly better than the 8.4% win rate from April.

Thanks to a 15% tax rate, $57 million in adjusted, taxable, gross revenue was reported, and $11.5 million in taxes was contributed to needy state and local tax coffers. That takes the year-to-date total to $55.3 million, which is $21.7 million better than through the first five months of 2023. Keep in mind, however, that despite launching legal sports betting in January 2023, Massachusetts sports betting sites didn’t go live until March.

DraftKings remains on top

Boston-based DraftKings easily maintained its standing as the most popular Massachusetts sports betting site in May. DraftKings Massachusetts accepted $299.5 million in bets in May and reported $28.3 million in revenue for the month, based on a 9.7% hold. DraftKings maintained its streak of holding more than a 50% market share in Massachusetts.

FanDuel Massachusetts finished a distant second in the Massachusetts market in May with a $172.4 million handle and $20.3 million in revenue from an 11.7% hold. BetMGM Massachusetts rounded out the top three with $39.3 million in May wages and $3.1 million in revenues.

ESPN BET Massachusetts was fourth, with $25.9 million in accepted wagers and $2.5 million in revenues, while Fanatics Sportsbook Massachusetts checked in with just under $20 million in bets and $1.5 million in revenue.

Caesars Sportsbook Massachusetts finished a disappointing sixth with $20.1 million in accepted May bets and $1.5 million in May revenues.