Massachusetts Sportsbooks Have Massive January

It’s going to take awhile before all of the Super Bowl sports betting numbers are in, but many states have already started report on the numbers from January. The overall handle and revenue numbers for the United States are expected to be large, and Massachusetts certainly did its part. 

For the third straight month, the total sports betting handle in Massachusetts was more than $650 million, but sportsbooks did much better against the public this time around. The total sports betting revenue for January came in at $72.7 million, which easily shattered the previous record in the state. 

The previous record was actually set in December of 2023, but that revenue total was just over $62 million. It’s clear that this is a sports betting market that is continuing to grow, and there could be other records set throughout the year. 

All of this winning was done despite the total sports betting handle actually falling more than 1 percent from the December total. Total sports betting handle is now up to more than $5 billion, and that total was achieved in just over 12 months time. 

Massachusetts is never going to be the biggest market when it comes to sports betting, but it continues to be one that is growing in a major way. 

A Look at Other States

While there are still several states that have yet to announce sports betting numbers from January, Massachusetts is currently sitting in second place. New York is the clear leader at this time as the total handle reported in that state was $1.97 billion. 

Maryland is currently sitting in third place with a total handle of $545 million, and that’s clearly well behind Massachusetts. Illinois, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania will all likely slide ahead of Massachusetts at some point, but a top-five finish is still a possibility. 

Getting to $5 billion in the first 12 months is a major win for this state, but there is more to it than simply looking at the total handle numbers each month. Sportsbooks only care about the revenue that is being generated, and the state of Massachusetts is concerned with that as well. 

DraftKings Setting the Tone

DraftKings is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and it only makes sense that it continues to lead the sports betting charge each month. This operator now has three straight months with at least $310 million in wagers accepted, and the hold rate continues to be over 10% each month. 

A look at the overall numbers since sports betting launched shows just how dominant DraftKings has been as it has more than 54 percent of the total online sports betting handle in the last year. This operator has also accounted for more than 50% of the total sports betting revenue that has been brought in.

DraftKings and FanDuel continue to have quite the battle brewing throughout the United States, and the latter is trying to keep pace in Massachusetts as well. FanDuel had a record month in the state of Massachusetts, but it just continues to come up short in this race. 

ESPN BET is still not enjoying as much success as it had hoped when it first went live, but it remains as the third-largest online sportsbook in the state of Massachusetts. Handle dropped nearly 10 percent for ESPN BET from December, but it has still done enough to keep pressure on the leaders. 

BetMGM and Fanatics have been struggling to have success in Massachusetts as there just isn’t much market share left to grab.