The three commercial casinos in Massachusetts had a bounce-back in July after hot-and-cold results since a record March.
Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville and MGM Springfield combined for more than $98 million in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in July and more than $812 million in handle, the second-highest total ever in the state.
This marked the third consecutive month the casino trio has marked an increase in revenue after registering $93.1 million in revenue for Massachusetts casinos in June, and $90.9 million in May. The exact July total was $98,740,546. It was the third-best revenue month ever for the state’s casinos.
Breakdown of Casinos in July
As expected, Encore Boston Harbor led the way by a wide margin, generating $64.7 million in GGR. MGM Springfield came in with $21.5 million in revenue and Plainridge Park Casino, which only offers slots, turned in $12.4 million, setting a three-month high after coming just short of $13 million in April. Encore and MGM offer both slots and table games.
MGM Springfield saw a slight increase in total revenue from slot and table games from June of just under $400,000.
Encore Boston Harbor improved its total slot and table revenue for the second straight month, falling less than $150,000 short of its record revenue month of March. The casino had its highest slot and table gross gaming revenue since March, as well.
In June, Massachusetts saw an increase in revenue, but suffered a decline in overall handle compared to May. In June, the casinos combined for a $744.3 million, a 2.4% decline from May, according to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. In July, that number recovered as the casinos combined for a handle of $812,601,336.
Massachusetts totaled a record handle of nearly $821.7 million in March and also set the state revenue mark that month at just over $102 million. July marked the third time ever that the casino handle in the Bay State exceeded $800 million.
A big portion of the July bump was from Plainridge Park Casino, which had an individual handle of $182.4 million, its highest since July 2021 ($185.6 million).
Massachusetts Sports Betting On Horizon
The increase in revenue and handle by the Bay State’s three commercial casinos comes on the heels of a breakthrough for the legalization of sports betting in Massachusetts.
On Aug. 10, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a sports betting law bringing sports gaming to Massachusetts just over four years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s PASPA decision that left the legality of sports gaming in the hands of the states.
The bill will allow players that are at least 21 years old to bet on sports at casinos, slots parlors, kiosks in bars and through Massachusetts sportsbook apps.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission met last week but did not set a timetable for launching sports wagering. Meetings are to be continued in the near future but the commission has not decided, for instance, whether all sportsbooks will launch at once or if they can be allowed to start in a staggered manner.
