Online gambling in Michigan has been delayed until early 2021, with rules still yet to be finalised in full.
Retail sports betting, on the other hand, is expected to go live tomorrow.
No emergency rules for online regulation
Emergency rules could have been implemented to speed up the iGaming rule clarification process. However, Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered commissioners not to do this.
Along with online sports betting, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) also needs to confirm regulations for online casino and fantasy sports. Fantasy sports was permitted when Whitmer signed House Bill 4308 in December. Meanwhile, online sports betting is under HB916 and online casino is within HB4311.
In an official press release, the MGCB spoke about situation surrounding online gambling regulation in full. These were its words.
“MGCB staff continues to develop administrative rules for online sports betting, online casino gaming and fantasy sports. The rules should be final by early 2021, and online and mobile sports betting and gaming can begin next year after proper licenses are issued to the Michigan tribes and the Detroit commercial casinos and the firms that assist with these activities.
“The MGCB will not regulate onsite sports wagering at Michigan’s tribal casinos. The tribal casinos will announce their launch of onsite sports betting individually.”
Land-based going live
Despite online laws still yet to be determined, the Great Lake State has managed to launch some kind of sports betting prior to the NBA’s March Madness competition. The land-based version of this vertical is expected to go live tomorrow at Detroit’s three commercial casinos.
All three have already met the MGCB’s preliminary launch requirements. The casinos in Detoit are MGM Resorts’ MGM Grand Detroit, Penn National’s Greektown Casino and the privately-owned MotorCity Casino.
Should the state regulator approve all three of their launches prior to 10am local time today, as is expected, the trio can go live from 1pm tomorrow.
Richard S. Kalm, Executive Director for the MGCB, said that he feels both players and residents will reap the rewards of a regulated sports betting market. He said the following.
“With just 11 weeks to prepare, MGCB staff worked hard to make the launch of onsite sports betting at the Detroit casinos possible by March Madness.
“The casinos and their suppliers helped us by their timely efforts to share information we needed to authorize the gaming. This new gaming opportunity has been highly anticipated, and we hope citizens will enjoy it and see benefits from additional revenue to both the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit.”
Sports betting in Michigan will be taxed at 8.4% of gross gaming revenue. Detroit casinos will be subject to additional rates on top of this.
