A perfect storm of October events propelled online gambling in Michigan to nearly $500 million in wagers in a single month, falling just short of becoming the fifth state to reach that milestone. In addition, the state’s online casinos reached a new high, marking a historic month for the still-fledgling market, according to PlayMichigan, which tracks gaming developments in the state.
Michigan’s online casinos and poker rooms reached a new high in October with $109.7 million in gross gaming revenue. That total is up 7.1% from $102.4 million in September, and marked the third consecutive month that online gaming has set a revenue record. October’s revenue produced $20.3 million in state taxes and $7.8 million in local taxes. Online gaming has now injected $220.8 million in state and local taxes since launching in January, nearly 20 times more than the taxes generated by online and retail sports betting.
Michigan’s online sports books accepted a record $463.6 million in bets in October, up 30.8% from $354.3 million in September, according to official data released Thursday by the Michigan Gaming Control Board. That total easily topped the previous online high of $359.5 million set in March. Combined with $34.2 million in retail wagering at Detroit-area casinos announced last week, Michigan’s online and retail sports betting set a record with $497.6 million in wagering, up 28.6% from $386.8 million in September.
Online gambling in Michigan won $24.3 million in gross revenue from sports books in October’s wagers, up 2.7% from $23.7 million in September. Combined with $2.6 million in retail revenue, sports books won a total of $26.9 million for the month, down 0.7% from $27.1 million in September. Heavy promotion whittled taxable revenue to $7.3 million, which yielded $1.1 million in taxes.
FanDuel retook the online market lead with $124.0 million in wagers, up from $82.1 million in September. Those bets yielded $10.3 million in gross sports betting revenue, up from $7.2 million in September. DraftKings, which had topped the market for two consecutive months, was second with $120.4 million in wagers, up from $106.9 million in September. Those bets produced $2.9 million in for online gambling in Michigan from gross gaming revenue, down from $3.0 million in September.
“The market remains crowded, and smaller operators have yet to gain much ground on DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM,” Schoch said. “But a growing pie is certainly good news for smaller operators who continue to fight for a better foothold in the state.”