Massachusetts Revenue Declines at Casinos During September

The three commercial Massachusetts casinos experienced a drop in both handle and revenue in September compared to August.

The casinos in the Bay State had $731,380,901 in handle for September, off by 4.1% from the $762.8 million in August and down by about 9.5% from the state record of $807.9 million set in July.

Revenue fell by a similar amount, 3.9%, from $92,385,101 in August to $88,819,461 in September. The state record for revenue was also set in July, at $95.7 million.

For a bit of perspective, the September figures are still the third-highest in state history, according to the the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. It has been a banner summer for the facilities – MGM Springfield, Plainridge Park and Encore Boston Harbor. The past three months have been the best for the state as far as casino handle and revenue since Encore opened in summer 2019, thanks in no small part to Massachusetts ending restrictions related to COVID-19 in May.

Breakdown of September Gaming in Massachusetts

Encore Boston Harbor led the state in both revenue and handle last month. Encore had $366.7 million in handle from slot machines and gaming tables combined, followed by MGM Springfield at $198.1 million. Plainridge Park, which has only slots, drew $166.6 million worth of action.

For revenue, Encore took in nearly $57.5 million for the month – $31.5 million from slots and $25.9 million from table games. MGM made $19.4 million in gross gaming revenue for the month ($16.6 million in slots and $2.8 million in table games) and Plainridge Park reported about $12 million.

All of the figures were down from August. The state collected about $25 million in taxes for September.

Status of Legal Sports Betting

Massachusetts is still trying to get a deal done to legalize sports betting, even as neighboring Connecticut prepares for mobile sports betting and online casino gaming to go live on Tuesday.

A bill to get sports betting approved in the Bay State is stalled in the Massachusetts Senate and has been for a good chunk of 2021.

State Senate President Karen Spilka said recently that there are five topics taking highest priority for legislation; sports betting was not among the topics she listed. The Massachusetts House approved sports betting legislation this summer, but it needs to be taken up in the Senate before it can go any further.