The November income from Massachusetts: is ESPN Bet showing first surge?

November saw Massachusetts's gaming income decline even though its monthly sports betting handle broke record. More intriguing, though, was Penn Interactive's wager explosion.

Figures published by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission show that casino takings were essentially flat as compared to last month. For punters, nevertheless, sports betting accrual dropped by $10 million from October to this month.

Comparatively to the $155.8m generated in the previous month, total taxable gaming income for all casino and sports betting fell by 7.7%.

Revenue from total sports betting affected by low hold rate
Reviewing aggregated sports betting results, Massachusetts's three in-person licensees and eight mobile and internet sports gambling licensees produced accrual win of $50.6m.

Sports gamblers gambled around $654.4 million in November, up nearly 15% on the $571.8 million spent in October. It was 12% higher than Massachusetts betting's previous record month, $579.3m in April 2023.

Though handling increased, victory was actually down by more than 16% from last month. Revenue hold in November was at 7.72% in a favourable month for punters, down from 10.5% in October. May's Massachusetts record handle was matched by a 61.0 million dollar record win.

DraftKings once more smashed the monthly handling record for the state in November as players dropped $320.0 million. With $304.8m in October, the company has exceeded its prior high. Revenue dropped from $34.3m to $27.2m, nevertheless, in line with a pattern observed across the Massachusetts betting scene.

FanDuel's $181.5 million handle for Massachusetts's biggest month yet Hold rate of just 6.9% meant win was just $12.6m, though.

ESPN Bet: behind the explosive rise of Penn Interactive?
The rise in wagers by Penn Interactive caught most attention. With a revenue hold of 10.65%, October saw only $13.9m in wagers; November appears to have totally reversed the picture.

Penn Interactive processed $39.1m in wagers just one month later. This brought taxable gaming income of $5.7 million and an increase of about $16 million. The highest in Massachusetts, its revenue hold also grew to 14.86%.

Penn's $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion/€1.4 billion) joint venture with Disney-owned ESPN, the biggest sports media brand in the US, results in ESPN Bet.

Since starting throughout 17 states in November at the middle of last month, ESPN Bet has definitely made a splash.

Over the first six days following introduction, the app was downloaded about a million times. DraftKings' CEO Jason Robins admitted he was "keeping a close eye" on ESPN Bet's performance.

After lagging far behind Caesars Sportsbook and BetMGM in October, DraftKings and FanDuel only ranked Penn in November for overall wagers settled.

Whether that growth is still to be seen, the early indicators are clearly encouraging.

Massachusetts casinos turn in $94.0 million.
In meanwhile, the three casinos in the state brought in around $94.0 million in gross gaming income (GGR) in November. From table games, Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbour brought in $32.1 million. From slots, $62.0 million.

Though November is a shorter month, the total was marginally down on the $96.7m received in October.

With a down tick from October, Encore Boston Harbour accounted for $61.4m of the state's casino GGR. On the $59.4m generated in November 2022, the figure was slightly higher.