Michigan Online Gambling Surpasses $216 Million In Revenue In March

Two questions are pertinent when it comes to Michigan gambling revenue. When will online casinos in the state hit a new record and how long will that stand? The relevant figures for March have already answered the first question.

Michigan online casinos reported almost $172 million in March revenue, breaking the previous record that stood for more than a year. Moving forward, it puts even more emphasis on the question of how long the new standard will last.

Michigan online gambling highlights for March

The latest numbers from the Michigan Gaming Control Board for online gambling show unprecedented activity. The state’s 15 online casino licensees combined to produce $171.8 million in revenue during the month. Here’s how that number compares to previous performances:

• Up 13.8% from the February Michigan online casino revenue total of $148.2 million
• A 30.4% increase compared to the same number for March 2022
• Beats the previous record of $153.7 million from January 2022 by 10.6%
• Stands as a single-month high for all markets besides Pennsylvania

Nationally, only Pennsylvania’s March total of $181.5 million in revenue for online casinos surpasses Michigan. Among the 15 licensees in Michigan, March was a record-setting month for about half of them.

According to Drew Ellis of PlayMichigan, seven of the Michigan operators reported more online casino revenue than ever before. Leading the way, as is normal for the state, was BetMGM Casino with $56.2 million in win.

Additionally, Sports Illustrated Casino marked a new state record for revenue for an online casino operator in the first full month of operation at $2.1 million. Sports Illustrated Casino went live in Michigan in the second week of February.

For as much as online casinos impressed during March, their revenue isn’t the whole story. Online sportsbooks in Michigan fully participated in the madness.

Michigan online sportsbooks report busy March as well

March 2023 wasn’t as mad in terms of the amount of action that online Michigan sports betting took in. In fact, the $421.7 million in bets represented a drop of almost 12% compared to March 2022.

However, Michigan’s 15 online sportsbooks won where it actually counts. Combined, they took more than $44.6 million from bettors over the course of the month. FanDuel again led the way, winning more than $20.5 million from bettors during March.

Thus, combined with win from online casinos, online gambling revenue in Michigan for March came to $216.4 million. Adding that to revenue from Detroit’s three commercial casinos, Michigan’s March taxable gaming revenue surpassed $335.6 million.

As Michigan’s online gambling industry has now surpassed that milestone, the next threshold comes into view. Whether an $180 million month for the state’s online casinos is imminent is speculative. Discussion over how soon that could happen has the same quality.

Could Michigan catch Pennsylvania soon?

There’s little evidence to suggest that $170 million months will become the new normal for online casinos in Michigan.

March’s total stands as an outlier instead of the norm for those operators. Furthermore, it’s questionable how much more room the market in the state has to grow. The number of available licenses is running short and it’s fair to question how much of the state’s eligible population isn’t already actively playing.

With all that being said, the hard data suggest it’s foolhardy to bet against Michigan’s continued growth. It took Michigan just over a year to go from $150 million to $170 million in terms of monthly online casino win. Another year could see even more history.