The Michigan sports betting scene includes new partnerships between sportsbooks PointsBet and FOX Bet and online casino operators, and federally-recognized tribes operating gambling facilities in the state.
In late December, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Lawful Sports Betting Act and a pair of other gaming bills, which together will usher in legal, regulated sports betting into Michigan, as well as legal online gambling and poker.
Australia-based PointsBet, which opened the company’s first brick-and-mortar sportsbook in 2019 in Iowa, is currently active with operations or has access deals to launch in Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and New Jersey. The Stars Group owns FOX Bet, as part of a partnership between the broadcasting and gaming companies.
PointsBet entered into an agreement to provide online and mobile sports wagering and gaming to be rolled out statewide, in conjunction with the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, which owns and operates the Northern Waters Casino Resort. According to a press release, PointsBet will pay the tribe market access fees as well as a portion of the net gaming revenues derived from the online sportsbook and online gaming operations.
The Stars Group struck a deal with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Gaming Authority which gives the sportsbook first-skin market access for sports betting, iGaming, and poker.
The flurry of activity comes after the legislature in 2018 passed bills legalizing sports wagering, only to see lame duck former Governor Rick Snyder veto the measure on his way out.
In Michigan and many states with significant tribal gaming presences, concerns over exclusivity and a reluctance to reopen their compacts has triumphed over the potential upside of adding legal sports betting. Proposals and conversations between operators have been ongoing throughout 2019 and continue now with greater urgency as 26 casinos in the state, 23 of them owned and operated by tribes, decide how to capitalize on their access to online brands.
The number of opportunities in the state is actually smaller than 26, as each tribe and each of three commercial operators will be able to offer one online sports betting product, as opposed to one brand per property. Under the law, each tribe can engage one partner apiece for each of online sports betting, online casino and online poker play.
One of the other Michigan tribes weighing its options is the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, owner-operator of the FireKeepers Casino Hotel. In the Battle Creek Enquirer, Jim Wise, vice president of marketing at FireKeepers, said the tribe has begun negotiations with a sportsbook.
Penn National Gaming has a valuable skin in Michigan, too, as the new operators of the Greektown Casino-Hotel in Detroit.
It’s possible theScore Bet will get in through that deal via Greektown, but probably more likely that Penn National launches its own branded sportsbook and iGaming platforms powered by Kambi, which recently began divorce proceedings with DraftKings, which is merging with supplier SBTech to keep things in-house.
It’s a bit harder to predict the outcome for the MotorCity Casino Hotel, owned by Ilitch Holdings, a company established by the Ilitch family, which also owns the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers.
All operations online and systems at brick-and-mortar sportsbooks across the state will at some point have to pass muster during testing phases in accordance with forthcoming regulations by the Michigan Gaming Control Board, which the law tasks with regulatory oversight.
“After four years of hard work, I’m happy to see Michigan enter the modern era of gaming,” Michigan Rep. Brandt Iden said after his bill passed at the end of 2019. “We’ll have a safe, regulated environment for thousands of Michigan residents who for years have been forced to travel to other states or play on risky offshore sites.”
Sportsbooks could be running, at least brick-and-mortars, in time for March Madness.
