The sportsbooks will ultimately win, but MGM Springfield and WynnBET sports bettors had reason to celebrate last month.
Retail sports betting in Massachusetts launched in late January, and April proved to be the best month for bettors at the Springfield location. Apps launched in March, and April was huge for WynnBET mobile bettors too.
Here’s a closer look at just how great of a month MGM Springfield and WynnBET gamblers recorded.
Bettors have eye-opening April in Springfield
Retail sports bettors at MGM Springfield enjoyed a fantastic April, resulting in the casino tallying a -13.84% revenue hold during the month.
MGM Springfield’s taxable sports betting revenue came out to -$232,493.30. That is especially noteworthy when the other two Massachusetts casinos were nowhere close to being in the red.
Given that the casino did not post positive taxable sportsbook revenue in April, no taxes were collected from the BetMGM Massachusetts Sportsbook at MGM Springfield last month.
Let’s be clear: This isn’t the norm for any casino sportsbook. And it’s not a cause for long-term concern. The casino will come out ahead in the long run, and will almost certainly post solid percentages when May’s numbers are announced.
Different results at Plainridge Park
Sports bettors at Massachusetts’ other two retail betting facilities, Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park Casino, weren’t as successful as those at MGM Springfield.
In fact, it was a tremendous month for Plainridge Park Casino. The location’s Barstool Sportsbook tallied a revenue hold of 11.04% during the month of April — almost 8% higher than Encore Boston Harbor.
In turn, Plainridge Park Casino posted the best taxable gaming revenue of any of the Massachusetts casino sportsbooks: $366,166.84. In turn, Massachusetts collected $54,925.23 (15%) of that revenue in the form of taxes.
Encore Boston Harbor’s taxable gaming revenue from its WynnBET Sportsbook came out to $230,808 for the month, resulting in $34,621.20 in taxes.
In total, all three Massachusetts casino sportsbooks combined for $364,481.54 in taxable gaming revenue last month. Taxes across the state amounted to $89,546.23.
WynnBET online had just a 2.03% revenue hold in April
In addition to retail betting, Massachusetts sports fans can now wager with seven MA online betting apps. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission also released the mobile betting numbers for April last week.
One thing stood out: WynnBET Massachusetts had just a 2.03% revenue hold in April. That was the lowest of any sportsbook available app in Massachusetts. And it wasn’t all that close.
The next-closest sportsbook was Barstool Sportsbook, which tallied a hold of 7.98%. Caesars Sportsbook followed close behind at 8.66%, but no other sportsbook totaled a hold lower than 10%.
In total, the six MA sportsbook apps available in April collected $546.2 million in sports gambling handle.
WynnBET isn’t quite the national household name as main sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings. Both sportsbooks have much deeper pockets when it comes to advertising and promotions. And that national trend isn’t any different in Massachusetts.
However, WynnBET has outperformed Caesars Sportsbook MA in terms of sports betting handle in March and April, the first two months for which we have data to analyze, largely thanks to brand recognition from its retail presence at Encore Boston Harbor. WynnBET’s low revenue hold for April, however, left the app in last place — sixth out of six — for April revenue.
The sportsbook totaled $405,977.74 in taxable gaming revenue. WynnBET was the lone Massachusetts sportsbook operator to post a revenue total less than $1.6 million in April — a stark contrast from DraftKings’ $28.3 million revenue total during the same timespan.
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