Michigan Sees Decrease in Online Gaming

By John Isaac,
Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac Editor at online-gambling.com

John Isaac is an editor with many years of experience in the gambling industry. He writes expert articles on card games like blackjack and poker. In addition, he is also well aware of the US gambling laws and the Indian and Dutch gambling markets. You can rely on verified information and insightful details.

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Last updated: May 25, 2024

The state of Michigan recently reported on its revenue for the completed month of April 2024. Unfortunately for those invested in online gaming growth, these stats have shown that online gaming has in fact decreased during this time period.

The more specific figure at hand is 8.7%, which represents that total amount that has decreased when comparing figures from March 2024 to April 2024. The total online gaming revenue during the April period was a cool $234.8 million.

What does decrease in growth mean for Michigan?

Though revenue in the hundreds of millions of dollars of course feels significant, the report is a blow to those who are looking for positive signs of Michigan’s move to allow regulated online gaming. This is a fairly new development in the state, as it has been for several other US states over the last few years.

Online gambling in Michigan was voted to become legal in 2021, with the change actually taking effect in January 2022. That means that Michigan has only had just over two years of experiencing the effects of online gaming for its residents. A major part of this move is of course the potential to earn increased tax revenue for the state, but decreases in earnings are not a positive trend.

One upshot is that the revenue in March was actually the highest revenue recorded in the state so far, coming in at $257.1 million. April’s total also was higher than both February and January.

This begs the question: Was March’s high revenue a fluke, or has Michigan’s online gambling reached its peak?

When looking at year-on-year data, it is. clear that April 2024 recorded 20% more revenue than the same period in 2023. It is possible that Michigan is seeing an upward trend in online gaming overall, with March 2024 being an exceptional fluke in how high returns were.

Sports Betting in Michigan

Looking at sports betting in the state is another revealing angle from which to view the gambling industry’s successes. Thought iGaming dropped last month, that is not true for sportsbooks.

It is noteworthy that while bets taken between April to March dropped significantly, revenue remained close to the same at just shy of $42 million.

AGR Totals

Another figure that comes into these reports is adjusted gross receipts or AGR. For April 2024, this number was a total of $201.9 million. The bulk of this came from iGaming, with about an eighth coming from sports betting.

Looking at increases and decreases in AGR, iGaming’s monthly AGR was down 10.4% though sports betting AGR was up by $4.1 million. Year-on-year, both online gambling and online sports betting saw increases, of $21.4% and 13.3% respectively.

Michigan’s Taxes

One of the principal concerns of the state in all of this is naturally tax revenue and government payments. Unfortunately, these indeed decreased from March to April. The total the state received for the month of April was $41.1 million.

Breaking down this number further, it appears that the bulk was contributed by online gaming revenue. This would explain why a decrease in iGaming factored significantly into the total money received by the state.

Out of the $41.1 million, $35.8 million was contributed by online gambling. $1.8 million came from online sports betting. A sizable sum of $4.3 million was contributed by tribal gaming operators.

Casino Revenue

It seems online gaming is not the only gambling vertical to receive an impact in April. The brick-and-mortar casinos in the state also did not bring in as much business or profit as usual.

The three casinos of Detroit, Michigan’s biggest city, reported a 11.7% decrease in month-to-month revenue. This total was also lower than April 2023’s revenue.

MGM continues to be the front running earner of the trio, with almost half of the market share. MGM is trailed by MotorCity and Hollywood Casino at Greektown.

These three contributed nearly $10 million cumulatively to Detroit city via various taxes in April 2024 alone.