Online Gambling Earns Michigan 90 Million in First 6 Months

There was a lot of anticipation when online gambling went live early this year in Michigan. There was certainly a flood of advertising prior to the activation of online gambling in Michigan, and apparently it’s paid off.

Sports betting and online casinos that make it easy to wager from your phone, tablet or computer in the first six months of operation have paid the state of Michigan 90 million in tax revenue so far. Governor Whitmer signed legislation in December to make sports betting and casino play legal in Michigan.

“We knew it would be big... This is a state with a casino culture, but it's been huge," said Matt Schoch, an analyst with PlayMichigan, a website that tracks the state's gaming industry. Looking at numbers for the period of January to June 2021, the state has already raised $87.8 million in state tax revenue, with an additional $34.7 million in local and tribal revenues. “And that's just crushing the projections of even the more optimistic ones that people had going into it,” Schoch told FOX 17 Wednesday afternoon.

The sports betting activity reported so far stacks up to the projections prior to the new laws taking effect, but the online casino side of it has been way bigger than anticipated. They anticipate further growth in this segment, looking at a potential $200 million per year.

That’s a nice chunk of money and it’s going to different places. A small portion goes to the horse racing industry, and a cancer prevention fund for firefighters. But the lions share goes right into the Michigan school aid fund, along with a significant investment into a state compulsive gambling fund that aids programs from the Department of Health and Human services.

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Without a doubt online gambling in Michigan is quite popular, it sure makes it easy to bet from anywhere in Michigan, on any device that accesses the internet. Have you tried it yet?