In January, Michigan started offering online gambling and so far, four casinos have gone live with their sportsbooks while only one – – offered full mobile gaming.
However, this situation isn’t going to last for long as more are coming.
BetMGM Casino Going Live in March
A few days ago, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) announced that it had granted a three-year license to Roar Digital, which is the online betting and gaming venture of MGM Resorts and GVC Holdings.
Therefore, BetMGM Casino should go live in Michigan sometime in March.
According to the MGCB press release, the initial fee paid by Roar Digital was $200,000 and the annual renewal fee will be $50,000.
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In addition, Roar Digital received five one-year internet gaming supplier licenses each costing $40,000 and five one-year Internet Sports Betting Skill Game Manager licenses at a cost of $80,000.
As reported by Online Poker Report’s Dustin Gouker, BetMGM’s director of sales, Adam Greenblatt, confirmed that the company is “aiming for the first or second week of March” for its Michigan launch.
Best Slots with a Casino Theme You Need to Play OnlineBetMGM Casino is the mobile arm of MGM Resorts International and it has been operating since 2017. Currently, it’s live in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana. However, Michigan will be the seventh state overall and it looks like it will be number five to go live this year.
What’s interesting about BetMGM Casino is that it is powered by GVC’s technology and benefits from its decades of online experience, while MGM brings all the land based brands such as Borgata and Beau Rivage to the table. So players can enjoy proven land based brands in an easy to use platform with loads of great promos, including frequent odds boosts on sports and regular reload bonuses.
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de los mejores casinos en línea según expertos 👍️🏆DraftKings went live in Michigan straight out of the gate on January 22, 2021, alongside BetMGM Sportsbook. So in many ways, it has the earliest start possible within the online casino vertical.
We can make some assumptions regarding their performance from other states where they are live. For example, in New Jersey, DraftKings is #2 behind BetMGM when it comes to revenue and market share among traditional casino operators who also happen to be iGaming pioneers.
Another Michigan online casino licensee that is already a major player in NJ is Golden Nugget. However, it’s a bit more complicated for them because they don’t have any land based properties in Michigan.
Party Casino Review UK - Slots & Other Games to PlaySo instead of applying for a casino license, they struck a deal with the Lansing-based Jackson National Life Insurance Company to leverage their facility and get their online gaming foot in the Motor City door.
On February 3, the MGCB issued a four-year license to Golden Nugget Internet Gaming LLC to provide internet gaming through the Bay Mills Indian Community. The cost of the license was $200,000 and the annual renewal fee is $50,000.
Additionally, the board approved five Class C Vendor Internet Gaming Machine Sublisher licenses for Golden Nugget’s online partner iTECH HOLDINGS AMERICAS LLC. Each of these licenses will cost $40,000 annually.
iTECH is a subsidiary of eCOGRA founder and original CEO, Andrew Beveridge, who literally wrote the book on game testing and compliance. His expertise in this area helped establish best practices throughout the online casino space and his eCOGRA seal is still one of the most respected in iGaming.
Best Withdrawal Casino (2023) - Fast Payout Online CasinosThe Golden Nugget Online Casino brand is highly recognizable and very popular in NJ and now, through their partnership with Jackson National and iTECH, Michigan residents will soon have access to their full suite of casino games.
Golden Nugget has led the US market in terms of online casino revenue every quarter since Q3 2016 when eGaming Review began tracking this metric. Most recently, Golden Nugget captured 36.9% of the NJ online casino market in the third quarter of 2020.
The only other operator to crack the 20% market share threshold in New Jersey during that timeframe was BetMGM at 20.3%.
When Will Other Tigers Start Hunting?
It won’t be long before Michigan joins , , , and .
WSOP New York Satellites - How to Qualify for ,000 EventOn February 8th, the MGCB announced that they had received Barracuda Gaming LLC’s $200,000 initial license fee and “representations and documents required to complete the licensing process.”
CAesars SuperBook at the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel in Williamsburg, Michigan will be the land based partner for Barracuda Gaming, which means that the Caesars online brands will be live in the Wolverine State sooner rather than later.
This means that you’ll be able to bet on sports and play casino games online or via marker through CaesarsCasino and WSOP Poker apps and visit the brick and mortar Caesars Diamond Club Rewards Casino in Turtle Creek to earn free trips to any of Caesars 40+ resorts worldwide.
Real Money Casinos You Can Play Online for FreeYou could even do the reverse and use your Caesars Rewards membership to earn tier credits and tournament entries at the world’s largest casino chain and redeem those points for room comps, merchandise, and dining discounts back home.
And this reciprocity between IGaming and land based casinos benefits everyone.
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It appears that the timeline for the rest of the igaming pack is longer.
For example, Live! Casino Williamsburg and its online partner Rush Street Interactive (RSI), who operate in Indiana and Pennsylvania, haven’t provided any hints about when they’ll launch in Michigan.
Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton, Jr.’s new PointsBet Sportsbook may not arrive until the end of 2021 – but we could be pleasantly surprised.
The Holy Grail licensee may be William Hill, which was acquired by Caesars for $375 million. William Hill operates in 160 countries and there’s little doubt that their international experience will translate into strong performance across Michigan, as well as in other US jurisdictions.
Another possibility is FanDuel, although their land based partner, the Gun Lake Tribal Casinos, may choose to align with their hugely successful daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting brand.
of the Best Legal Online Casinos in the US (2023)On the casino side, however, it might make sense to leverage the national brand awareness of FanDuel Sportsbook and the online casino presence of sister company Betfair Casino.
Why Is MI Online Gambling Booming?
It all started with the Odious Solemn. Well, not really – but the retired Tunisian professor made fortune-seeking politicians think there was a goldmine in online gambling and they could tap into it.
Sollenberg set up 27 online gambling sites and collected €1.3m (~US$1.5m) in just two weeks by convincing mostly French nationals to deposit money into his accounts. He was sentenced to two years in prison, of which he served one because of time already spent in custody. The rest is lost history – except for the lesson learned by thousands of politicians around the world.
Online Casinos New York Residents Can Play Right Now - GamblingSites.comEven though Sollenberg operated a decade before Apple changed the world with the first iPhone in 2007, iGaming was already booming on desktop computers made by the same companies the Professor didn’t trust – Microsoft and Compaq (later bought out by HP).
Amateur regulators like the US Congress (2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) and individual states (Chris Christie, Sheldon Adelson’s pet project) failed miserably to stop American players from enjoying online gambling. Instead, they created regulated markets where players know they’ll be treated fairly and have access to professional customer service representatives 24/7.
Best Free Demo Games to Play at Online Casinos in 2024The first US state to embrace online casino gaming was New Jersey after years of litigation. Other states were watching and learning from the Garden State’s success.
Penn National, for example, has gone on record stating that online gaming is their top growth initiative and they have licenses in place in six states – Delaware, Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and now, Michigan.
“We remain constructive on iGaming regulation in California, Louisiana, and Maryland, which would significantly expand RECI’s (Rooted in Casino Investments) addressable market,” added Pamela Nichol, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Penn National.
Casino Review UK - Slots & Other Games to PlayCalifornia, Florida, and Texas together generate over $125 billion in annual revenue, which would make those states one of the top 10 economies in the world – ahead of Russia, South Korea, or the UK. Needless to say, online casino gaming would considerably enhance those economies and take care of their aging population.
Maybe one day the legislators in those states will realize this and follow Michigan’s lead. Until then, online casinos and sportsbooks in the Wolverine State have lots of ground to cover and plenty of opportunity to shine in 2021 and beyond.
Kevin Roberts, previously published under the pseudonym Noah Davis, is one of the longest serving members of the GamblingSites.com team.
