The Massachusetts Gaming Commission reported $447.3 million in sports betting handle for August on Monday, a 42% year-over-year increase.
The late-summer action pushed the year-to-date handle above $4.4 billion. That is up 71.5% from the first eight months of 2023, but it is not a like-for-like comparison, as mobile wagering did not commence in the Bay State until March of last year. Handle was also up 8.6% from July, but a drop in the hold of more than 2.5 percentage points sent month-over-month revenue tumbling 18.3%.
The state's three retail sportsbooks and seven mobile operators had an unspectacular month, combining for a 7.7% hold to claim $34.5 million in gross sports betting revenue. It was the fourth-lowest hold in 20 months of wagering, but also one-quarter of a percentage point higher than 12 months prior. The state was eligible to tax $33.3 million in adjusted gross revenue, redirecting $6.6 million into its coffers.
DraftKings Continues to Hold Sway in Home State
Massachusetts-based DraftKings continued to rule the mobile roost, as its $229.4 million handle accounted for more than half of the $439.7 million wagered digitally for August.
Its outsized market share contributed to the online titan taking the top spot in revenue, collecting $16.8 million despite a 7.1% win rate. DraftKings surpassed $200 million in year-to-date gross winnings with the month's haul while also topping $2.2 billion handle.
FanDuel was a distant second in both categories, notching a 9.3% hold to claim $10.9 million in winnings from $118.2 million worth of wagers. That ended a four-month run of double-digit holds for FanDuel, which still has a 10.8% win rate for the year and close to $137 million in revenue.
BetMGM snared the final podium spots in both categories, as its 7.6% hold from $31.1 million handle resulted in close to $2.4 million in revenue. Its year-over-year revenue ticked down 4.2% despite a 46.5% bounce in handle, as its win rate plunged four percentage points.
Fanatics Sportsbook was able to distance itself from both ESPN BET and Caesars for the No. 4 spots in both categories. Its $25.9 million handle was an all-time monthly high in the Bay State, an increase more than six-fold from last August. The 6.3% hold — less than half that from 12 months prior — resulted in $1.6 million in revenue.
ESPN BET's handle of $16.7 million was only a 1.3% increase from predecessor Barstool Sportsbook's action last year, but an 8.2% win rate meant revenue more than doubled to nearly $1.4 million. The PENN Entertainment-owned sportsbook, though, has seen handle decline every month since reaching a peak of nearly $50 million in December.
Caesars' 4.5% hold was the lowest among mobile operators and resulted in a revenue haul of $713,900 from $16 million in bets place. Caesars has topped the 7% industry standard hold just twice in the last 11 months and is the only active online book not to attain an 8% win rate in that span.
Bally Bet nearly doubled its revenue from July in its second month of business in Massachusetts, leading all digital books with a 9.4% hold to claim $228,500 in winnings from $2.4 million handle. Its win rate climbed nearly 4.4 percentage points, while handle increased by less than $15,000.
