The trio of Massachusetts casinos, including Encore Boston Harbor (pictured), experienced a revenue decline to $97.9 million in May. (Photo by Michael Dwyer / Alamy)

The trio of casino destinations in Massachusetts had a disappointing May as their aggregated gross gaming revenues for the 31-day period dropped by around one percent year-on-year to approximately $97.9 million.

Massachusetts is home to some seven million people and also hosts the 250-room MGM Springfield venue, the much larger Encore Boston Harbor enterprise and the slots-only Plainridge Park Casino facility. These properties together host a selection of over 4,900 casino slots alongside almost 300 gaming tables offering a wide variety of blackjack, pai gow, roulette, sic-bo, baccarat and poker entertainment. 

Shifting Situation 

Although depressing, the May result was about 0.5% higher than the previous month’s $97.5 million tally and stood an optimistic 4.7% above the $93.5 million figure recorded for January. However, it was over 11% down on the $111 million reckoning for March while moreover being 2.5% below February’s $100.5 million total.

Alongside all of this, data released by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission regulator showed the eastern state’s three retail sportsbooks and eight-strong club of online sports betting websites recorded roughly $57 million in taxable wagering revenues last month. 

This tally represented a swell of 16% month-on-month but was some 6.4% below the nearly $61 million chalked up for the same period in 2023.

Trying Times

The 671-room Encore Boston Harbor property from operator Wynn Resorts Limited was the undisputed leader in terms of Massachusetts gross gaming revenues last month as its tally rose by almost 0.5% month-on-month to surpass $61.1 million. 

Nevertheless, this figure was around 2.2% below the $62.5 million recorded for the analogous period in 2023 and saw the venue’s five-month tally slip by close to 0.2% year-on-year to $317.6 million.

For its part, MGM Resorts International’s almost six-year-old MGM Springfield venue saw its own gross gaming revenues for May dip by about 1.3% month-on-month to roughly $22.4 million. 

This brought the 14.5-acre facility’s five-month tally to just north of $113.9 million, which represented a decline of around 2.6% year-on-year.

Finally, the Plainridge Park Casino enterprise run by Penn Entertainment Incorporated had a relatively successful May as its collection of around 930 casino slots racked up approximately $14.3 million in gross gaming revenues. 

This tally equated to a boost of something like 3.6% month-on-month to take the 50,000 sq ft enterprise’s tally since the start of the year up by over 6% to $68.4 million.

Ample Assistance 

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission stated Plainridge Park Casino is classified as ‘a category 2 slots facility’ to have its monthly gross gaming revenues taxed at a rate of 49%. The regulator also disclosed 82% of this cash is set aside for the governments of surrounding communities with the remainder being given to the state’s Race Horse Development Fund.

Defined as casino resorts, Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield pay a much lower 25% levy on their monthly gross gaming revenues with these duties being utilized by a range of state-run funds. 

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission divulged the jurisdiction’s trio of gambling-friendly properties has so far handed over well beyond $1.7 billion in tax since 2011 including slightly over $39.4 million for May.