The Massachusetts Gaming Commission reported Monday that operators in April claimed gross sports wagering revenue of just over $60 million statewide, with mobile juggernauts DraftKings and FanDuel combining for $51 million of that amount.
The online titans and eternal rivals both posted double-figure hold percentages, with FanDuel pacing the Bay State’s six mobile operators at 12.8% and DraftKings third at 10.2%. DraftKings did well again to protect its home turf, as the Massachusetts-based gaming company accounted for more than half of the state’s $566.2 million online handle at $283.8 million.
That contributed to DraftKings claiming close to $29 million in gross revenue, an improvement of nearly 80% from March as its hold shot up nearly four full percentage points. The only state where DraftKings — whose month-over-month handle increased 10.2% — is known to have posted a higher revenue total is New York, where it reached $52 million in adjusted gross revenue in March. DraftKings recently set an all-time monthly high in Illinois with $27.2 million in AGR for March.
With retail betting included, overall statewide handle totaled more than $579.2 million, up 2% from March as bettors continued to churn through promotional introductory offers from the mobile sportsbooks. The $566.3 million in online bets accounted for 97.7% of all handle and quickly lifted the Bay State’s overall handle since launch above $1 billion.
The state collected $11.8 million in tax revenue for April, an increase of nearly $2.5 million from March. All six online sportsbooks reported at least $400,000 in taxable revenue, while MGM Springfield on the retail side paid out close to $230,000 above its $1.65 million handle. Massachusetts has seen an inflow of almost $21.5 million into its tax coffers the last two months from sports betting, aided by the March 10 launch of mobile wagering.
FanDuel in familiar territory with high hold
Running April Top 10 #SportsBetting handle by state (Mass. revised $20M higher):
1 New York $1.55B
2 MASSACHUSETTS $579.3M <-NEW
3 Maryland $328.5M
4 Indiana $321.4M
5 Iowa $172.6M
6 Kansas ~$133M
7 Oregon $55.17M
8 West Virginia $46.77M
9 Montana $5.2M
10 TBD#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) May 15, 2023
After posting a 9% hold in March, FanDuel regrouped with a double-digit win rate, aided by the popularity of its same-game parlays. The MGC does not break out handle and revenue by sport or category, but FanDuel collected nearly $22.1 million in gross revenue from $172.6 million worth of accepted wagers.
BetMGM was a strong third in both revenue and handle, fashioning a hold of close to 11% with more than $4.7 million in gross revenue from $43 million in wagers. Caesars Sportsbook was one of two other mobile operators besides DraftKings to have an uptick in handle, improving 18.4% to $19.4 million, but its revenue dipped 9.3% to $1.7 million with a hold of 8.6%.
Barstool Sportsbook‘s gross revenue slipped just over $1 million, narrowly missing $2 million for April. WynnBET had the roughest April of any online sportsbook, posting a 2% hold to claim just over $463,000 in revenue. Its handle surged 25.3% from March to $22.8 million, however, and was within $1.8 million of Barstool for fourth.
MGM Springfield gets knocked down a peg
MGM Springfield had more than half its revenue from the Jan. 31 retail launch through March wiped out with April’s six-figure loss. It had a minus-13.8% hold, as its handle was relatively flat with a month-over-month decline of less than $10,000.
With MGM posting a monthly loss and Encore National Harbor paying out above handle on launch day, Plainridge Park is already the only retail sportsbook to post positive gross revenue each month of operation. Taking it one step further, it has posted win rates of 11% or higher each month. The PENN Entertainment venue claimed close to $375,000 in gross revenue from almost $3.4 million handle for April.
