The American Gaming Association’s Oxford Economics study recently took a look at the “Impacts of the Commercial Gaming Industry in Michigan” for the year 2013. The study found that Michigan’s casino industry had an economic impact of .8 billion and created more than 17,000 direct and indirect jobs with 7 million in total labor income. Without those jobs, Michigan’s unemployment rate would rise by about 1 percent. The state’s unemployment rate was 6.7 percent last November. “The commercial casino industry in Michigan supports one out of every 239 jobs statewide,” the report said.
In 2013, Michigan’s commercial gaming industry generated $730 million in total tax revenues, including $306 million in gaming taxes that are directed toward municipal services. The rest of the revenue includes sales taxes, income taxes and others.
Michigan has 26 casinos including three state-regulated casinos in Detroit– MGM Grand, MotorCity Casino and Greektown Casino–plus 23 Native American casinos, for which the tribes have signed gaming compacts with the state dating back to 1993. Voters approved Proposal E in November 1996, allowing three licensed casinos to be built in Detroit. Through last November, the three Detroit casinos reported total revenue of more than $1.2 billion, generating state wagering taxes of $98.3 million. The city of Detroit, which recently went through bankruptcy proceedings, heavily depends on casino tax revenues for fiscal planning.
