One of America’s newest sports betting markets, Massachusetts sports betting launched in 2023 after a lengthy legislation and negotiation process. With up to 15 online sports betting licenses and over 40 applicants, Massachusetts has a very competitive and lucrative sports betting market.
To participate in Massachusetts sports betting, players must be 21 years old and be geolocated within the state’s borders.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission regulates the sports betting industry and has issued ten of the state’s online licenses. We’ve reviewed all of the sportsbooks that went live in Massachusetts and have narrowed the best sportsbooks in the state to five options for you to choose from.
While there can be up to 15 online Massachusetts sports betting licenses in the state, ten licenses are currently granted. Of those ten licenses, we’ve ranked the top five legal Massachusetts betting sites that are currently available in the state.
Here is our ranking:
| Sportsbook | Bonus | Promo Offer | Sidelines Sportsbook Review Score |
| BetMGM | Risk-Free Bet | Receive a matching bonus of up to $1000 if your first bet loses. | 5/5 |
| Caesars Sportsbook | Risk-Free Bet + reward program points | Receive a matching bonus of up to $1250 if your first bet loses. You’ll also receive 1000 Tier Credits and Caesars Reward Points. | 4.5/5 |
| DraftKings | Bonus bet and deposit matching, first bet win bonus. | Bet at least $5 on any pregame moneyline and win $150 in bonus bets if the team wins. Receive a $50 bonus bet and a 20% deposit matching bonus up to $1000 on your first deposit. | 4.5/5 |
| FanDuel | Risk-free First Bet – “No Sweat First Bet” | Receive a matching bonus of up to $1000 if your first bet loses. | 4.5/5 |
BetMGM
If there is a better sportsbook on the market, we’d like to be introduced to it. The BetMGM sportsbook is the best sportsbook on the market, ranking highly in every category, with an excellent user experience and the very valuable combination of live streaming, betting education, and edit my bet functions that give users a little more value than other legal Massachusetts sports betting apps.
Caesars Sportsbook
The Caesars sportsbook is one of the simplest to use with the smoothest user experience and excellent promotions, along with live NFL streaming. Caesars sportsbook is one of the premier options on the market.
DraftKings
What the DraftKings sportsbook lacks in features, it makes up for in variety, bonuses, and promotions. Overall, DraftKings is one of the best sportsbooks in the Massachusetts sports betting market and will make an excellent choice for players who are happy to overlook the aesthetics and limitations.
FanDuel
The FanDuel sportsbook ranks highly in every criterion and has everything a Massachusetts sports betting player can want. It has only a few slight limitations, such as its early cash out capabilities, that keep it from getting the best ranking possible.
WynnBET
The WynnBET sportsbook app has many excellent features and an overall great user experience, but it has numerous limitations with variety and overall selection that make it an excellent secondary sportsbook.
Anything new or experienced users could want in a sportsbook, BetMGM has, and has a better version than almost everyone else. A vast selection of sports and bet types, exciting features to keep users engaged, and an incredibly intuitive site layout. BetMGM is the highest ranked on our list.
The Caesars Sportsbook has UX/UI, an impressive range of bet types and props across all of the sports they offer, and exciting promotions offered frequently. Additionally, thanks to their deal with the NFL, Caesars has great live streaming capabilities.
The FanDuel sportsbook has some slight limitations but is the market share leader in handle taken in, and grades highly in every one of our categories.
Caesars has one of the best welcome bonuses and an excellent loyalty program in the state and provides users with a constant stream of promotions that rank among the best in the state.
The DraftKings sportsbook has some of the best unique promotions, odds, contents, tournaments, and an excellent combo welcome bonus.
The BetMGM sportsbook has excellent promotions for existing users and an excellent rewards program that provides users with incredible ongoing value.
The BetMGM sportsbook app is among the easiest to use and navigate while being super functional with the best selection of sports and bet types. BetMGM has aimed to create the best sportsbook app on the market and hit the bullseye.
The Caesars Sportsbook app is functionally the simplest to use. We found no clear weaknesses in our review, and its live NFL streaming function worked flawlessly even with heavier user loads.
The FanDuel app offers an excellent user experience and has pretty much everything the site has. From the app you can both live stream NFL games and place live bets while you’re watching.
We use specific criteria to review every sportsbook. Ideally, the best sportsbooks perform well across the board, but when we rank them, we try to show you which ones have the edge in each category.
Here’s a look at exactly what we’re looking for when we conduct our reviews.
When reviewing a sportsbook, we walk through the entire registration process. We want to find a quick and painless, hassle free experience here, as well as an effective identification process.
The best sportsbooks have clear directions to help users along the way if necessary and guide users through the geolocating process.
Best in the state: each of our top five future legal Massachusetts sportsbooks have a similarly quick and easy registration process.
The next thing we focus on is security. You are providing your personal and financial information to a sportsbook, so we want to ensure that your information is safe and that you’ll be able to withdraw your winnings confidently.
We review the sportsbook’s original license and security protocols before moving any further into our review.
Simply put, if a sportsbook isn’t secure, we will not recommend it under any circumstances.
Best in the state: All legal Massachusetts sports betting options are licensed by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and are secure and trustworthy options.
When we explore each sportsbook’s banking options, we want to find the widest variety of secure financial options possible, giving users plenty of choices to use the payment method they’re most comfortable with.
We want to find options like PayPal, Debit and Credit Cards, Venmo, Skrill, PayNearMe, Wire Transfers, ACH, and eCheck.
We also review minimum deposit and withdrawal amounts and payment processing times, factoring this information into our rankings.
Best in the state: BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook.
The user experience is something we pay attention to throughout our research of the sportsbook. We evaluate the functionality and aesthetics, exploring each feature and how intuitive it is for users to figure out everything they need without too much trial and error.
Best in the state: Caesars Sportsbook, Bet MGM
For a sportsbook to rank highly, we need to find an excellent welcome bonus, ongoing promotions, events, contests, and loyalty or rewards programs. We highly value risk-free bets, deposit matching, and combination bonuses that provide users with safety nets on their first bets and help build the user’s bankroll.
Best in the state: DraftKings, Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM
We highly value sportsbooks with a wide variety of betting options. This means the types of sports you can bet on, both U.S. and international, and the types bets you can make on every single sport offered.
We also want to find betting options beyond single-game betting, like props, futures, live betting, contests, and special events for seasonal events like March Madness. The more betting options for the user, the better.
We won’t penalize sportsbooks for not listing second-tier professional or minor league sports with little to no action on the betting lines.
Best in the state: DraftKings, FanDuel.
Features are where sportsbooks can really separate themselves from others. Beyond actually placing a bet, what else can users do on each sportsbook? What features are in place to help guide users through their betting process?
Some examples of the features we look for are: odds calculators, live betting, live streaming, early cash out, bet builder, bet editor, and much more. Many of these are becoming standard across the industry, but each sportsbook does them slightly differently, and some are better than others.
We give extra points to sportsbooks with excellent betting education materials and responsible gambling measures.
Best in the state: BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook.
We understand that mistakes and issues can and will happen. Anything pertaining to your personal information and sports betting is time-sensitive, and those issues need to be addressed as soon as possible.
Most sportsbooks offer some combination of an email to reach, a phone number to call, or a live chat. The ones with functional 24/7 live chats and great response times rank the highest for us
Best in the State: Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM, FanDuel.
The Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics who both play at the TD Garden, both partnered with DraftKings for daily fantasy sports. For sports betting however, the Celtics are partnered with DraftKings while the Bruins are now partnered with FanDuel.
The Boston Red Sox and Major League Baseball have partnered with FanDuel as the official sports betting partner of the league.
The New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium in Foxboro have partnered with Aristocrat Gaming as one of the teams’ sports betting partners while having a partnership deal with DraftKings that has expanded to sports betting since it became legal in the state.
After the Supreme Court repealed the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, states were given jurisdiction over sports betting within their borders. Massachusetts lawmakers introduced five sports betting bills in January 2021, showing the state’s first real interest in developing a sports betting market.
Throughout 2021, the Governor and House moved to legalize sports betting, while the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee slowed down the process. It wasn’t until August 1st, 2022, that the Sports Betting Conference Committee announced an agreement to finally permit the development of a legal Massachusetts sports betting market.
Before leaving office, Governor Charlie Baker signed the Massachusetts Sports Wagering act (H.5146) into law on August 10th, 2022. This action by Baker paved the way for the emerging Massachusetts sports betting market.
Massachusetts Casinos and racetracks were awarded sports betting licenses upon legalization.
Massachusetts sports betting legislation permits up to 15 total licenses, with ten betting sites that just launched after sports betting became legal in March 2023. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission oversees and regulates the legal Massachusetts sports betting market.
The state enforces a 20% tax rate on online revenue and 15% on retail revenue. Gambling on politics, eSports, the Olympics, cornhole, chess, jai alai, and any event overseen by the Russian or Belorussian governing bodies is prohibited.
To participate in Massachusetts sports betting, users must be 21 years of age and geolocated within the state’s borders.
Sports betting became legal in Massachusetts in March of 2023.
Yes. Players can bet on FanDuel. It’s one of the best sportsbooks in the state and a partner of the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, and Major League Baseball.
Yes, horse betting is legal in Massachusetts. Players can place wagers at racetracks or authorized off-track racing books to bet on horse racing.
