Massachusetts Enjoys Successful First Month of Legal Online Betting

The much-anticipated numbers from the first month of operations for legal sports betting sites in the Bay State are in ... and the best sportsbooks didn't disappoint.  

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) on Tuesday released its handle and revenue figures from a sports betting platform that welcomed mobile operators to its family on March 10. The impressive numbers followed a $25.7 million handle in Massachusetts' lone month of retail sports betting. 

Legal retail sports betting launched in Massachusetts on January 31, but it wasn't until March that Massachusetts officially rolled out legal online sports betting, and bettors, betting providers, and ultimately state tax coffers were able to take advantage of the much more popular and lucrative internet-based wagering system.

Top Massachusetts sports betting sites, DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Barstool Sportsbook, WynnBET, and Caesars combined to make the sports betting scene in the Bay State a rousing success. Reports from March are highlighted by impressive revenues and an eye-opening tax contribution from those providers to the state.

Massachusetts' handle for March 2023

Massachusetts picked a good month to launch its legal mobile sports betting platform. Last month provided a nice spike in wagering activity in all of the states that have been reported so far, including New Jersey, and likewise proved to be fruitful for the Bay State scene. March Madness is one of the biggest annual betting events on American soil.

The MGC is reporting $568.1 million in bets for the expanded legal sports betting industry’s first full month of mobile wagering in Massachusetts. Over 95% of the total handle came from the state's mobile providers, proving once again just how critical an internet-based sports betting platform is to any prospective new legal jurisdiction.

Retail accounted for about $20 million of the overall handle.

Revenues just as impressive

Thanks to the addition of mobile sports betting to the Massachusetts scene, taxable gaming revenues exploded in March for Bay State providers, despite a huge amount of promotional dollars being paid out in the first month of operation. Just shy of $50 million was made by the best sportsbooks in the state, setting a pretty high bar for their industry going forward.

The combined retail/mobile sports betting hold rate came in at a sportsbook-friendly 10.35% in March 2023. It is in line with other jurisdictions around the country that benefitted from the rash of upsets during the NCAA basketball tournament. 

Thanks to the 15% tax rate on retail sports betting and 20% tax on mobile netting, a healthy $9.3 million was collected for needy state and local tax coffers. Forty-five percent of the $9.3 million is earmarked for the state’s general fund, 27.5% of the tax revenue will go to the gaming local aid fund, 17.5% will go to the workforce investment fund, 9% is for the public health trust fund and 1% will be paid to a youth development and achievement fund.

Hometown DraftKings takes the top spot

To nobody's surprise, hometown DraftKings was the top-performing mobile sports betting site during Massachusetts' first full month of legal mobile sports wagering. DraftKings accounted for $257,634,288 of the state's overall March 2023 handle, or about a 47% market share with FanDuel, the nation’s top-performing sportsbook coming in second with $181,085,195 in bets, or about 33% of the Massachusetts mobile market share.

BetMGM was third with 8.3% market share, or $45,271,182, Barstool took in $29,505,722 or 5.4% of the market, WynnBET $18,207,674 (3.3%), and Caesars Sportsbook $16,398,404 (3%).

In terms of tax contributions, FanDuel led the top sports betting sites with $3,200,599 for March 2023. DraftKings contributed $3,111,365, BetMGM $1,462,892, Barstool $578,715, WynnBET $404,719, and Caesars $362,828.