Online Sports Betting Coming To Michigan
After legalizing sports betting in Michigan in April 2020 and a slow start, the state plans to launch online sports betting in the state by mid-January, 2021. As of January 5, fifteen sportsbooks have already been approved by state regulators to launch online betting options by mid-month. Among these companies are DraftKings and FanDuel, the two companies leading the trend for regulated online sports betting in the US.
Online sportsbooks will be launching in Michigan by the end of January, 2021. ©robinsonk26/Pixabay
An Exact Date Remains To Be Announced
In early January, Michigan state officials confirmed that online sports betting would launch in the state within several weeks’ time — but no specific date was stated. Still, officials remained optimistic that the launch would be imminent before the beginning of February, a promising start to 2021 for the Michigan sports betting industry.
At Least Fifteen Sportsbooks Will Be Moving Online
Once Michigan sports betting concretizes its move into the virtual realm, at least fifteen sportsbooks will be launching their online offerings in the state. This will include nationwide sports betting companies like FanDuel and DraftKings, as well as freshly-launched online offerings from local land-based casinos.
Moving From Land-Based To iGaming
In a public statement from Michigan State Senator Curtis Hertel, he revealed promising expectations for the state’s up-and-coming online sports betting market, including a prediction that all of Detroit’s casinos will implement online sports betting options, including tribal casinos.
The land-based gambling options in Detroit alone total about 12 of the new sportsbooks coming to Michigan’s brand-new online sports betting landscape. These will be joined by online sports betting providers FanDuel and DraftKings, which already have outposts in states including West Virginia, Tennessee, and Indiana.
States Across The US Move Towards Lenient Sports Betting
Two factors have expedited the pace of legal sports betting in the United States: the Supreme Court overturning preexisting legislation which set a nationwide ban on sports betting, rendering it up to state governments to decide, followed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the US in March 2020.
While the Supreme Court decision was made in 2018, it was a small trickle of US states which pushed through legislation to allow for legal sports betting. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in overwhelming financial strain across US state governments, has left citizens and officials alike scrambling for additional revenue.
Michigan Legalized In April, To Little Success
Legal sports betting in Michigan was put into effect in April, just a short time after the outbreak of COVID-19 in the US. The launch was ill-timed: in the early days of the pandemic, sporting events around the world were brought to a screeching halt, meaning several months of significant financial loss for the sports betting industry.
As Sports Resumed, New Life For US Sports Betting
After several months of silence in international sports, the sports industry figured out a way to recalibrate. For many leagues, this has meant games taking place for limited or no live fans. In some extreme instances, like in this year’s NBA season, the games were played in a strict COVID-19 bubble, from where players and reporters were not allowed to leave.
The result has been, among other things, a renaissance for sports betting, which has quickly become one of the saving graces of the gambling industry as lockdowns continue to place land-based casinos around the world in a state of flux. As states in the US continue to legalize sports betting, revenue continues to grow in the sector month by month.
October 2020 Saw Record Highs
In December, the American Gaming Association released a study which demonstrated that October 2020 was the most lucrative month of all time in US sports betting history. The study, which monitored that month’s revenue in the 17 states in which sports betting is legal, found that 15 out of the 17 states had all-time-highs for sports betting in October.
Online Sports Betting Continues To Prove Winner
While sports betting in both land-based and online options has continued to soar above revenue for traditional table games and slots, the returns clearly demonstrate that players across the US are preferring to make their bets online through verified providers rather than making their bets in person.
The result is causing states — now including Michigan — to revise existing gambling legislation to add provisions for online gambling options in the state, which will likely dramatically increase revenue for sports betting providers and the state once put into effect sometime in January 2021.
Can Gamblers Still Bet IRL In Michigan?: The State of Lockdowns
In mid-December, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer made the unpopular decision to extend a statewide lockdown of certain businesses until January 15, 2021. The extension largely applies just to indoor dining at restaurants, while a number of other businesses — including casinos, movie theaters, and stadiums — are allowed to remain open.
That means that gamblers in Michigan can place their bets in person on various sporting events, though certain mandatory health and safety measures must be followed in order to do so. This includes a cap of 100 people inside a casino at any given time, with mandatory social distancing. No food or drink may be served in the establishment.
