Michigan online casino gambling is still a new industry. However, nearly two years into its launch, many online gambling insiders may be forgiven for thinking this Big Three market’s revenue story is already ho-hum. Meanwhile, the hidden story is challenger brands managed to gain more than 14% of the iGaming market share since launch.
Month after month, Michigan online casino revenue is neck-and-neck with that of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
MichiganSharp uses gross gaming revenue (GGR) as a benchmark for the October revenue figures the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) released on Thursday.
By those measures, Michigan’s performance is predictably robust – totaling nearly $141 million and representing a 6% increase over last month’s GGR. New Jersey’s coffers received $147 million, and Pennsylvania topped all three, bringing in $152 million.
Michigan Online Casino: Mostly Challenger Brands
BetMGM Casino and BetMGM Poker have the advantage of brand recognition through the land-based portion of its joint venture owners, MGM Resorts International.
MGM Grand Detroit Hotel and Casino held 46% of the state’s commercial casino market share during October, MGCB reported on Nov. 14. The retail casino with 3,500 slots and video poker, as well as 150 table games, is naturally BetMGM’s land-based partner.
Entain owns the other half of BetMGM, and the joint venture can boast of dominating US online casino market share at 31% during Q3 2022. In Michigan, BetMGM started and stayed at No. 1, currently with 37% of GGR.
DraftKings Casino and FanDuel Casino regularly trade Second and Third Place. In October, FanDuel was No. 2, with 16.33%, and DraftKings had 16.05%.
Together, the Big Three Michigan online casino operators held 69% of the market.
However, there are 12 other players.
Michigan Online Casino’s Other 12 Players
Even though BetMGM’s GGR was $52 million, FanDuel $23 million, and DraftKings nearly $23 million, the other 12 online gambling operators generated more than $43 million.
That’s nearly 31% of the Michigan online casino marketplace during October, which is a 14.42% increase over non-Big Three operator market share during Michigan’s online gambling launch month of January 2021.
Granted, Michigan launched online casino, poker, and sports betting on Jan. 22, 2021. However, challenger brands only earned 16% of that month’s GGR.
Smaller operators did step up their game in February 2021, taking in 27% of February 2021’s revenue. However, they didn’t remain steady at 30% or more of the Michigan online casino market until March 2022. (Challenger operators slipped slightly in September 2022, to 29.63% of market share.)
Michigan’s largest smaller brand is BetRivers Casino. In October, it saw $9.2 million GGR – up from $1.4 million in January 2021 and $4.3 million in February 2021.
BetRivers’ portion of the Michigan online casino market was 6.49% in October, up from 4.61% when Michigan sites launched.
The smallest market share is, of course, zero percent. Hannahville Indian Community hasn’t yet replaced its online casino operator. Its previous one, TwinSpires Sportsbook and Casino, ceased operations and closed down in Michigan on Sept. 6. The next day, SI Sportsbook began taking bets.
In October, the other 10 small Michigan online casino operators were:
- Barstool, 3.27%, $4.6 million
- FireKeepers, 1.09%, $1.5 million
- Caesars, 3.78%, $5.3 million
- Play Gun Lake, 1.27%, $1.8 million
- Golden Nugget (owned by DraftKings), 4.58%, $6.5 million
- PointsBet, 0.75%, $1.1 million
- PokerStars (owned by Flutter Entertainment, the primary owner of FanDuel), 1.74%, $2.5 million
- Four Winds, 2.2%, $3.1 million
- Soaring Eagle, 2.14%, $3 million
- WynnBet, 3.21%, $4.5 million
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