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The first January with legal online sports betting in place in Massachusetts did not disappoint. At the same time, casinos in the Bay State can’t make the same claim when it comes to their win on poker, slots, and table games.
Massachusetts sportsbooks set a new single-month record for their gross win in January, helping boost January’s numbers in terms of total gaming revenue and gaming taxes. That sets the stage for a flourish to finish the current fiscal year.
January revenue comes in cold for Massachusetts casinos
According to the January 2024 report by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Massachusetts’ two casinos and Plainridge Park “racino” (horse track with slots) reported over $93.5 million in taxable revenue. That’s a marginal decrease from what is a January record of $96.8 million in 2022.
For the fiscal year to date, taxable revenue from those three gambling facilities sits at $678.1 million, which represents a slight increase compared to the first seven months of FY2022-23. While January’s numbers were flat for gaming at casinos in Massachusetts, that was far from the case for legal sports betting in the state.
Massachusetts sportsbooks rake in January
January 2024 represented a first for Massachusetts in that it was the first month with legal online sports betting available. In January 2023, only physical sportsbooks were operating and that was only for the final day of the month.
Thus, a year-over-year comparison is skewed toward January 2024 and by a huge margin. For example, the amount of money wagered during January 2024 was about 10 times the same sum in January 2023.
January 2024 was more than respectable in a broader context than just the skewed annual comparison, however. Mostly due to the sports calendar for the month including the NFL playoffs, the $651.7 million in bets was the third-highest single-month total in Massachusetts history.
December 2023 betting handle in MA still stands as the standard in that way with over $655.5 million in wagers. However, the first month of 2024 is alone in its own right in the statistic that matters most for Massachusetts sportsbooks.
Their gross win of $72.7 million is the largest such figure for any single month in Massachusetts history. The percentage of the dollars bet that represents, 11.1%, is also now the new standard in the state.
With that contribution from sportsbooks, total gaming revenue from all these verticals for January 2024 came to more than $164.6 million, a 41.2% increase on January 2023. As a result, tax revenue for Massachusetts also rose to $40.4 million.
While casinos are probably still hoping for stronger months of January, sportsbooks have little to complain about. Massachusetts showed its potential for their interests during the month.
