Last year, the Michigan House and Senate both passed state Rep. Brandt Iden’s online gambling legislation, only to see the bill vetoed by outgoing Governor Scott Walker. This year, Iden is trying to pass a similar bill but the same issues keep coming up.
Iden’s measure passed the House Ways and Means Committee but Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office indicated she would veto it in its current form. A budget office official said, “As the bill is written—given the tax rate, the distribution of the additional new online gaming revenue to the state, as well as the potential impact to the state lottery—even under an optimistic scenario, Treasury estimates that there would be a potential reduction in overall state revenue.”
Chief Deputy Treasurer Jeff Guilfoyle stated online gaming’s cannibalization of the three Detroit casinos and the online lottery could cost the state up to $35.5 million or more. But Iden pointed out the Michigan lottery uses its online presence to attract players to the land-based casinos, and online gambling could bring even more people to casinos, which would help increase overall gambling revenue for the state.
Iden said he recently reached a consensus with industry stakeholders on language for a bill. “I’ve been working with stakeholders behind the scenes to make sure we get the language right. My plan is to introduce that bill and hopefully have it catch up to the rest of the package. I’m going to keep driving at getting it done before summer break.”
Iden added Whitmer has a team working on the option and hopefully everyone can reach what he calls “a landing spot.” He said his plans to increase the tax rate for online gambling from 8 percent to 9.25 percent may help move the legislation forward. The additional 1.25 percent would go to Detroit casinos and 5 percent would go to the state’s School Aid Fund may help move the legislation forward.
Although Iden didn’t introduce a sports betting bill this session, his online gambling bill includes a clause allowing the Division of Internet Gaming to authorize licensed operators to accept internet wag
