Massachusetts' 3 Casinos End 2021 With Increases in Revenue, Handle

December ended 2021 on a high note for Massachusetts casinos, as the state’s revenue and handle rose compared to November.

The state’s three commercial casinos combined for $718.8 million in handle (slot machines and table games combined) in gross gaming revenue for December, a 2.2% increase over the $703.3 million from November.

As for revenue, Massachusetts casinos pulled in $95,668,097 in December, 8.9% better than November, when the figure was $87,810,200.

That December revenue figure was only about $300,000 short of the state record, set in October at $95.98 million, and was the third-best figure in state history. The revenue in July 2021 totaled $95.74 million.

Breakdown of Massachusetts Casino Numbers

Encore Boston Harbor once again led the way in handle and revenue for December, as it has done every full month since opening in summer 2019.

The facility, located in Everett, had $372.4 million in handle and $62.4 million in revenue for the final month of 2021. That revenue figure was just short of the record $62.8 million set in October and was the casino’s second-best month ever.

Encore had $31.8 million in slot machine GGR and $30.6 million in table games revenue, according to figures from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

MGM Springfield had $189.1 million in handle and $22.2 million in revenue for December. That figure was derived from $16.67 million in slot revenue and $5.53 million in table games GGR. The Plainridge Park Casino, based in Plainfield, only offers slot machines and had $157.3 million in handle and $11 million in revenue for December.

Strong Figures for 2021

For the calendar year, the three casinos in the Bay State combined for more than $7.7 billion in handle and a little over $1 billion in revenue.

Encore accounted for about $3.45 billion in handle for the year, MGM took in $2.345 billion and Plainridge drew $1.94 billion. As for revenue, Encore reported about $634 million, MGM $247 million and Plainridge $139 million.

All of these figures are significant increases for a year-over-year comparison to 2020, but of course casinos in the state were closed down for three full months and parts of two others in 2020 because of restrictions related to preventing the spread of COVID-19.

There are no real money online casino options in Massachusetts.