March a Record Month For Massachusetts Casinos in Handle, Revenue

March was a record-breaker all the way around for Massachusetts casinos.

The three commercial facilities in the state – MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park – combined for more than $836 million in handle, a new mark, and surpassed $100 million in total revenue for the first time in state history.

There are no real money online casino options in the state.

The newest of the state’s three casinos, Encore Boston Harbor, which opened in summer 2019, is largely responsible for these records, with the facility in Everett having broken both handle and revenue records for a single month.

Here are the details from a notable March.

The exact combined handle at the three casinos was $836,416,188, an 18.5% increase over February’s $705.8 million figure. It was also a leap of nearly $30 million over the previous monthly record of $807.9 million set in July 2021.

Encore recorded $442,459,368 in handle last month, an increase of $40 million from its previous high of $402.8 million in July 2021, according to figures from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

MGM Springfield had $216.69 million in handle, its second-best total ever, trailing only the $219.4 million from July 2021. Plainridge Park had $177.27 million in March.

The revenue for March at the three casinos combined was $102,085,219, the first time the state has hit nine figures in a month. That was a 19.2% increase over February’s $85.6 million and beat the record of $95.98 million, set in October 2021, by more than $6 million.

Again, Encore led the way with $64,867,533. That was a bump of more than $10 million from February and surpassed the casino’s previous high mark of $62.8 million, also set last October.

MGM’s revenue was $24.3 million for March, its third-best total ever and highest in three years. Plainridge collected $12.9 million in revenue.

The tax total from Encore was, naturally, a new record as well.

The casino, just minutes from such Boston landmarks as Fenway Park and Beacon Hill, turned over more than $16 million to the state’s coffers in March. Massachusetts also collected a bit over $6 million from MGM and nearly $13 million from Plainridge Park.

In February, Massachusetts surpassed a career milestone of sorts with more than $1 billion in taxes collected from casinos since casino gaming began in the state.

The two casinos with both table games and slots (Encore and MGM) contribute 25% of their revenues to the state in taxes. Plainridge Park, which has only slot machines, sends 49% of its revenue to the state – 40% in taxes and another 9% to the Massachusetts Race Horse Fund.