Strong Sports Betting Revenues Make Up for Soft June at Massachusetts Casinos

Placing bets at a sports betting kiosk in the Encore Boston Harbor casino. (Image: Steven Senne / Associated Press)

A relatively weak June for Massachusetts’ three live casinos was salvaged by strong performances by online sportsbooks, according to revenue figures released by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Tuesday. 

The three casinos in the state combined to bring in $96.1 million in table and slots revenue, down 4.5 percent from $100.6 million in June 2023.

Encore, MGM Springfield Down Again in June

That also marks the lowest revenue total for the state’s casinos since January 2024, when they brought in just $93.5 million.

The largest casino in the state, Encore Boston Harbor, was down nearly eight percent year-over-year, bringing in $60.4 million in revenue for the month of June. The lone bright spot was the smaller Plainridge Park Casino – a slots parlor, rather than a full casino resort – which saw revenues jump seven percent to $13.8 million.

The story was even worse for the state’s retail sportsbooks. Combined, they lost money on the month, dropping $588,965 to bettors during June. Only one location, the sportsbook at Encore Boston Harbor, actually generated any taxable gaming revenue, while MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park came up short. Plainridge Park managed to lose even before any adjustments, dropping nearly $180,000 on a -6.09 percent hold for the month of June. 

Online Sportsbooks Enjoy Massive Gains Over 2023

However, the state’s gaming industry was buoyed by its six online sportsbooks, which combined to bring in $41 million in revenue during June. That was up from the $31.5 million they won in June 2023, an increase of 30.5 percent year-over-year. 

Combining all channels, that meant that the casinos and sportsbooks brought in a total of $136.5 million in June, surpassing the $132.2 million from the same month a year ago by 3.3 percent. That resulted in a total tax collection of $35.6 million for the state. In total, the casinos have now brought in nearly $1.8 billion in total taxes for Massachusetts, having surpassed the $1 billion mark in 2022. 

The figures continue a relatively weak 2024 performance from Massachusetts’ casinos, which also saw an approximately one percent drop in year-over-year revenues in May. 

The operators of the two larger casinos in the state have both made moves that suggest a relative lack of confidence in the Massachusetts market. In May, Wynn Resorts said it was putting a $400 million expansion plan for Encore Boston Harbor on hold due to failed negotiations over how much the company should have to pay the city of Everett for the new development.

Bloomberg published a report in March suggesting that MGM Resorts International was looking at options for selling off MGM Springfield. The report cited management as seeing the casino as an underperforming property, though the company later made public statements to reiterate it was committed to the Springfield market.