Christmas came early for sports betting hopefuls in Michigan thanks to a move by state officials to approve 15 separate companies to offer online sports betting. The conditional approvals also happened to green light online casino gaming for the companies in question.
In case you are wondering about the potential online sportsbook operators that will be coming to the state, here is a list of the 15 brands and the likely land-based casino partners that they will go live with:
- BetAmerica (with Island Resort)
- BetMGM (with MGM Grand)
- BetRivers (with Little River)
- DraftKings (with Bay Mills)
- FanDuel (with MotorCity)
- Wynn (with Kewadin; GAN as technology partner)
- Firekeepers (self-branded; Scientific Games as technology partner)
- Four Winds (sports betting only; Kambi as technology partner)
- Fox Bet/PokerStars (with Odawa)
- Golden Nugget (with Ojibwa)
- Barstool Sportsbook (with Greektown)
- Parx (with Gun Lake)
- PointsBet (with Northern Waters)
- William Hill (with Turtle Creek)
As you may have picked up, the list above only has 14 brands instead of 15. Well, this is a result of regulatory complexities that require Wynn and GAN to get each of their own licenses as they pursue their partnership with Kewadin Casinos.
What Next?
After months of discussion and amendments, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) has made a lot of progress, and this all thanks to legislative advancements. The state’s legislature completed the final task at the beginning of December with the Office of the Great Seal certifying the final rules for Michigan’s online sports betting, online casinos, and poker. This was all that was standing in the way of the MGCB’s plans to issue the provisional licenses.
The gaming control board is working very hard to ensure that the industry begins operating as soon as possible. However, despite all of those developments, there is still a lot that needs to be done. Even though there are already 14 brands showing a lot of promise for the state’s gaming market, gamers in the state should not expect to see all of them go live at the same time.
“The platform providers still must meet other regulatory requirements before online gaming and sports betting can launch in Michigan. The launch date will depend on how quickly they can fulfill the requirements [and their] ability to meet the requirements of the laws and rules will determine which entities can be licensed for launch first.”
MGCB Executive Director Richard Kalm.
An early 2021 launch for some of these brands is probably on the way and this should be more than enough for a start. Hopefully, all the other launches will follow shortly after that.
