The Massachusetts Gaming Commission reported a record $97.3 million in gross sports betting revenue for November on Monday as Bay State bettors also reached a new peak for handle.
The revenue figure eclipsed the previous record of $96.4 million set in January. It was 17.9% higher than the $82.6 million claimed in November 2024, which also set a record at the time.
Massachusetts became the seventh state to crest $900 million in total handle, with the $914.7 million representing a 17.6% increase from last year and 2.5% bump from October’s short-lived standard. That also made it the 13th state in the post-PASPA era to clear $20 billion in wagers all-time.
The state was able to levy taxes on $94.9 million in adjusted gross revenue, re-directing $18.9 million to its coffers. The $64.3 million collected through the first five months of the fiscal year is running $9.1 million ahead of last year’s pace.
It’s DraftKings, then everyone else
With the monthly rewriting of the record book comes DraftKings’ edits in the operator section for monthly all-time highs. The Boston-based operator has regularly commanded 50%-plus of the mobile market share, setting benchmarks seemingly at every turn.
November proved that true once more as the juggernaut set all-time monthly highs for revenue at $48.1 million and handle at $475.8 million. The latter figure also propelled DraftKings over $10 billion handle in its home state, accomplishing the feat in 33 months of mobile betting in the Bay State. DraftKings is also $17.9 million shy of $1 billion in gross winnings.
Revenue was up 6.5% from last year, lagging behind the 23.8% surge in handle. DraftKings remains the only mobile book to top $400 million in monthly handle in Massachusetts, reaching the benchmark for the third consecutive month.
Rival FanDuel can take solace in November being its best month in Massachusetts with $31.7 million in winnings. That was up 26.5% from last year as it posted a 13.5% hold on $235.4 million worth of wagers. The gap between the two titans on DraftKings’ home turf is more like a chasm: DraftKings topped $400 million in year-to-date revenue with its November haul while FanDuel reached $215 million with its strong effort.
The long ESPN Bet goodbye continues
November revenue reports have been providing nationwide closure to ESPN Bet and its run of barely two-plus years. Even with having ESPN’s studio headquarters in neighboring Connecticut, the Penn Entertainment-run sportsbook never truly found traction in a market that had a maximum of eight mobile operators at any point.
Perhaps the most damning statistic was failing to reach $30 million handle its final 20 months of operations as BetMGM kept ESPN Bet at arm’s length and Fanatics blew by it as the pair created their own second tier. That resulted in ESPN Bet battling Caesars and Bally’s for the remaining market.
ESPN Bet bowed out with a 7.7% hold in November, keeping $2.2 million of the $27.9 million handle. It generated a 3.2% mobile market share for the year with $245.1 million worth of wagers accepted, and crafted an 8.2% win rate to claim $20.2 million in revenue.
Speaking of Fanatics and BetMGM…
The two flipped spots from October for revenue as BetMGM had the stronger November in terms of performance to claim third. It attained a 10.9% win rate in claiming a year-best $6.8 million in revenue. That trailed only the $7.4 million won in its launch month of March 2023.
Action at Fanatics slid to $65.8 million after back-to-back months with handle above $80 million. Though a pedestrian 7.8% hold produced $5.1 million in revenue, that was nearly triple from the previous November when its hold was almost three percentage points lower.
Caesars failed to reach a 7% hold for the third straight month, landing at 6.5% to keep $1.9 million of the $28.9 million worth of wagers accepted. Bally’s had a record monthly handle of $5.9 million, but a 6.3% win rate meant it claimed only $371,723.
