Boston Celtics Win Drives Major Rise in Massachusetts Action

The Boston Celtics reaching the NBA Finals and winning the league championship was the likely reason for a major rise in the Bay State’s June Sports betting action.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission reported a June handle of $509.4 million on Monday, up 65.1% from the $332 million generated from the same month in 2023. Online Sports betting accounted for $500.7 million of the monthly handle.

It could’ve been an even bigger haul for the Bay State, but the Celtics only needed five games (all played in June) to beat the Dallas Mavericks in a best-of-seven series and capture the franchise’s 18th NBA title. 

Massachusetts Sports betting operators didn’t come close to touching $500 million handles from June through August in last year’s first summer of online wagering. The extra action led to $42.26 million of gross revenue in June, up 28% year-over-year.  

The Bay State filled its coffers with $8.2 million from an adjusted revenue of $40.46 million in June. 

Settled wagers and gross revenue were down 13% and 28%, respectively, compared to May. Those drops were expected with less playoff inventory overall, but the Celtics kept an even larger month-over-month difference.  

Rough on retail  

While online betting had a strong showing, June wasn’t a good month for brick-and-mortar Sportsbooks. The $8.6 million in wagers was on par with 2023’s handle, but Massachusetts' three retail Sportsbooks combined for revenue of $1,270. 

Plainridge Park Casino had the worst of it, suffering a loss of $179,791 on a handle of $2.95 million. MGM Springfield kept its head above water but not by much after a 2.2% hold on a handle of $1.03 million led to gross revenue of $22,865. 

Encore Boston Harbor generated the biggest haul with $158,205 in gross revenue on a retail-best $4.65 million hold.

DraftKings dominates 

Massachusetts is a DraftKings-heavy market, and the online sportsbook headquartered in Boston reaped the benefits of the Celtics’ championship with gross revenue of $19.98 million on a state-best handle of $263.7 million, more than half of the total amount wagered in June. 

FanDuel was a solid second with a handle of $141.4 million, while its state-best hold of 11.6% produced gross revenue of $16.8 million. The online sportsbook also surpassed $1 billion in wagers in 2024, joining DraftKings as the only two operators in Massachusetts to reach that milestone.

BetMGM hauled in $2.4 million of revenue on a handle of $34 million to hold third place, thanks to a hold of over 7%. ESPN BET and Fanatics were the only two other operators to surpass $20 million in wagers for June while Caesars fell just shy of that mark and was hampered by a 0.15% win rate. 

Casino profits slip

The state's three land-based casinos combined to produce $96.08 million in gaming revenue and $27.3 million in tax revenue for the state. Profits from table games and slots declined 4.4% year-over-year and 1.9% month-over-month. 

Encore Boston Harbor generated nearly 63% of that revenue alone, recording $25.5 million from table games and $34.9 million from slots. MGM Springfield was second with a gross revenue of $21.9 million, while Plainridge Park Casino hauled in $13.8 million in slot revenue.