Massachusetts Making Big Bucks From Casino and Sports Betting

Massachusetts has gone full-tilt into gaming, and residents are embracing the opportunity to spend their hard-earned money betting.

Table games, slot machines and the latest entry into the Commonwealth's gaming offerings, sports betting, are all doing a bang-up business, resulting in lots of tax revenue for the state.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission says gamers placed $315 million in sports bets in August 2023. That resulted in taxable income for gaming operators of more than $22 million and a tax haul of $4.55 million for the state. Not at all shabby.

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According to State House News Service, the Commission reports that "sports wagering and casino-style gambling combined in August to generate more than $120.6 million in taxable revenue for operators and $32.16 million in revenue for the state."

August's sports betting haul, while up from July's $294.9 million, was down from the $332 million wagered in June and the record $568.2 million bet in March.

Massachusetts has three licensed casino-style gaming facilities: Plainridge Park Casino Slots Parlor in Plainville, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor in Everett.

According to State House News Service, "Almost all of the (sports) betting activity (96.7 percent) in August took place on the eight mobile or online platforms."

The news service says, "The sportsbooks at the state's three brick-and-mortar gaming centers took in about $177,000 in revenue from in-person sports wagering, about $157,780 of which was taxable." That resulted in another $32,356 in tax revenue for the state last month.

Massachusetts has collected $50.35 million in "total taxes and assessments" from sports betting since it began in January 2023. The Commonwealth has collected $1.515 billion in "total taxes and assessments" from casino operations, which launched in mid-2015.

Remember, all of that money used to make its way to states such as Connecticut before gaming was made legal here.