Massachusetts Barely Misses 10% Hold For June Sports Wagering

Massachusetts sportsbooks narrowly missed posting a 10%-plus hold on gross sports wagering for the third consecutive month in June. The monthly report from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Monday showed the eight mobile operators and three retail venues combining for a 9.94% win rate.

The public performed well at the state’s three in-person sportsbooks, limiting the trio to a combined 2.1% hold on $8.5 million in bets. The retail win rate plummeted more than 11 percentage points compared to May, when practically every book ran rampant and set an all-time high of 13.6% in the fifth month of legalized wagering. Massachusetts has had an overall win rate of 8.5% or higher in each of the four months mobile betting has been available, crossing double digits twice.

Overall, sportsbooks accepted just over $332 million worth of wagers in June, leaving the Bay State about $40 million shy of $2 billion since launching Jan. 31. Handle dipped 27% compared to May, while gross revenue skidded 46.8% to $33 million. The state was eligible to levy taxes on $32.2 million of that amount, resulting in an inflow of more than $6.4 million into its coffers.

June’s total was enough to lift overall state taxes collected from sports wagering to just over $40 million since launch.

Fanatics fares well in first full month of action

Running June Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:

1 New York $1.17B
2 New Jersey $591.1
3 MASSACHUSETTS $332M <-NEW
4 Maryland $254.5M
5 Indiana $224.1M
6 Iowa $115.6M
7 Kansas $98.1M
8 Oregon $43.9M
9 West Virginia $28M
10 Montana $3.35M#GamblingTwitter

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) July 17, 2023

While Fanatics continues to ramp up operations nationally toward closing on its $225 million deal to acquire PointsBet, it performed relatively well when stacked up against its peers. Fanatics had a handle of $1.9 million in its first full month of wagering in Massachusetts and posted an 11.8% hold on gross revenue to claim nearly $225,000.

Its handle ranked a distant seventh among the state’s eight mobile operators, but Fanatics’ hold trailed only BetMGM’s and edged out FanDuel’s. Those three were the only mobile books to finish with double-digit holds. DraftKings — the handle leader with nearly half the $323.5 million — was just off that mark at 9.7%.

DraftKings paced all mobile books with $15.1 million in gross revenue. FanDuel, which posted an 11.6% win rate — its third straight month at 11.5% or higher — claimed $11.2 million in winnings from $96.1 million in accepted wagers. BetMGM paced all mobile books for the second straight month with a 14.4% hold, though that was more than one full percentage point lower than May. It kept $3.6 million in gross revenue.

Barstool Sportsbook rounded out the quartet of mobile operators to reach at least $1 million in gross revenue, topping that amount by more than $62,000 on $16.4 million handle. Caesars finished fifth in revenue with more than $687,000. WynnBET‘s hold failed to crack 6.2% for the third straight month, with June’s 4.3% win rate resulting in just over $508,000 from nearly $11.8 million wagered.

Brick-and-mortar gives back some bucks

None of the Bay State’s three retail books reached $100,000 in gross revenue, with Encore Boston Harbor coming closest at just shy of $92,000. The Wynn-powered book had a paltry 2% hold while leading the trio in handle with $4.5 million.

MGM Springfield had the best win rate at 4.2%, as it clawed back just over $37,000 in winnings, while Plainridge Park’s hold of just under 1.5% provided $45,509 in gross revenue from $3.1 million bet.