Massachusetts Casinos Experience Handle, Revenue Decline in November
@jdtomlin68
After a record-setting October, the three commercial casinos in Massachusetts saw their numbers for both revenue and handle decline in November.
Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park in Plainville combined for a casino handle of $703,285,617 in November, a 6.2% decline from October’s handle of just over $750 million.
In October, the state’s casinos broke a record for total revenue at nearly $96 million but could not sustain that pace last month, reporting total revenue of $87,810,200, according to figures from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Numbers Stronger Than Previous Novembers
Last month’s numbers were a boost over November 2020, when restrictions related to preventing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic held down revenue and handle. Not only was capacity reduced in late 2020, but the state’s casinos were operating under restricted hours as well.
November’s combined handle was a 72% increase over the $409.3 million from November 2020. And the revenue was 93% higher than the $45.45 million from 12 months earlier in a year-over-year comparison.
The numbers last month were also ahead of November 2019, before the coronavirus struck. In that month, revenue added up to $78.2 million and handle was $611.4 million. At that time, Encore Boston Harbor was only a few months old.
Breakdown of Massachusetts Casino Figures
As usual, Encore led Massachusetts casinos in handle at $362.9 million, and in revenue at $55.17 million. MGM Springfield had $186 million in handle and $21.67 million in revenue; Plainfield followed with figures of $154.35 million and $10.97 million.
In October, Encore set a new revenue record for itself and for any Massachusetts casino at $62.8 million.
For November, Encore took in $30 million in gross gaming revenue (GGR) from slot machines and $25.1 million from table games. MGM reported $15.96 million in slots GGR and $5.71 million from table games. Plainfield, which only has slots, had $10.97 million in revenue.
The trio of gaming facilities combined to contribute about $24.6 million in taxes to the state in November. That includes nearly $1 million that Plainfield contributed to the Race Horse Development Fund. Of the taxes collected from Category 1 licenses (resort-casino category), 20% are distributed for local aid, 15% goes to the Transportation Infrastructure Fund and 14% is earmarked for the Education Fund. The other 51% is distributed to a variety of projects.
There are, as of yet, no online casino options in Massachusetts.
Contributors
Jim Tomlin has more than 30 years of experience in sports journalism as an editor and writer. He has covered pro and college sports from football, baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, motorsports and more for publications such as the Tampa Bay Times, SaturdayDownSouth.com, SaturdayTradition.com and FanRag Sports. He now lends his expertise to TopUSCasinos.com, among other duties.
