Legal sports betting in Michigan reached $105,548 last month, it has been revealed.
The state officially opened its doors to wagering in this vertical on 11th March, via its land-based casinos.
But all operators were forced to shut their doors again on 16th March, due to measures designed to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
Mobile sports betting has been approved in Michigan, but still yet to become available to the public.
The big winners
The MGM Grand Detroit finished top of the pile in terms of sports betting revenue. For the four-day period it was able to take wagers, the venue made $84,695.
In second place was Penn National’s Greektown Casino, which reported earnings of $15,904. MotorCity Casino was third on the list, with $4,949 in revenue.
The three casinos paid $3,990 in State of Michigan retail taxes, plus $4,876 to the City of Detroit for sports wagering taxes. They also paid $6.8 million in gaming taxes and agreement fees to Detroit.
Michigan’s wider gambling industry suffers
The ability to operate for just 16 days in March had a noticeable impact on the state’s gambling earnings.
Michigan’s three casinos saw their overall revenue drop by 59.1% year-on-year, with last month’s earnings totalling $57.4 million. That was a 52.8% drop on February’s total, too, which stood at $121.7 million.
As it did with sports betting, MGM Grand Detroit was top of the overall revenue list. Last month, it saw $23.9 million stay within its doors. MotorCity Casino was second with $20.3 million, with Greektown’s $13.2 million putting it in third.
Could mobile sports betting come sooner-than-expected?
Mobile sports wagering was passed into law towards the end of 2019, as part of gambling reforms.
Originally, it was anticipated that this would be rolled out to the state’s residents at some point in early 2021.
However, it remains to be seen whether or not the interest shown in land-based sports betting – plus the financial impacts of Covid-19 – will prompt that to be introduced sooner.
