Michigan Sports Betting Handle Dips 30% in February

The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced a sharp decline in February’s handle, with the state recording $415.8 million in wagers, 30% less than January’s record-breaking month of $601.6 million. February broke a streak of four straight months with betting handle of more than $500 million in Michigan.

Betting handle has remained quite consistent in Michigan as evidenced by the last two years, which have both seen $4.81 billion in wagers placed in the state. In 2023, Michigan’s operators had a slightly higher hold at 9.2% (with $23.38 million in tax collections) as opposed to 2022’s hold of 8.6% (with $15.39 million in tax collections). Michigan has already surpassed $1 billion in handle in the first two months of this year.

Sports betting operators combined to generate gross gaming revenue of $30.3 million, which accounted for a 7.3% hold, with the state collecting $927,225 in tax receipts. In January, gross sports betting receipts amounted to $47.7 million. In terms of year-on-year growth, the Wolverine State saw a 16.4% growth from February last year.

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FanDuel Maintains Stronghold in Michigan

FanDuel led betting handle among the operators, generating $152.3 million in handle, which was 29% down from January’s wagers, with gross revenue of $7.8 million. DraftKings, the only other operator to generate in excess of $100 million in handle, saw a 34% drop in handle, with $109.8 million in betting wagers with revenue of $4.3 million.

In total, online sports betting operators accounted for $402.6 million in wagers out of the total $415.8 million generated in Michigan in February.

DC Casinos and iGaming Remain Strong

According to the report released by the Michigan Gaming Control Board, gross receipts from iGaming (excluding sports betting) amounted to $188 million, the highest to date, beating the previous high of $181.9 million in January. Including sports betting, total internet gaming gross receipts for February was $218.5 million, 4.8% lower than January’s total.

“Combined total iGaming and internet sports betting adjusted gross receipts (AGR) for February were $182.1 million, including $169.2 million from iGaming and $12.9 million from internet sports betting — representing an iGaming increase of 3.1% and a sports betting decrease of 31.3% when compared to January 2024,” the report stated.

“Compared to February 2023 reported revenues, iGaming AGR was up by 27.0% and sports betting was up by 52.7%. As of February, a total of 15 commercial and tribal operators have been authorized to launch iGaming and/or internet sports betting. Currently, 13 commercial and tribal operators offer internet sports betting, and 15 operators offer iGaming.”

Retail casinos took a beating in February, with only one of three locations reporting a profit. Greektown Casino collected $5.4 million in handle, with $129,665 in gross receipts and $4,901 in state tax contributions at 3.78%.

Motorcity Casino and MGM Grand Detroit reported similar losses in February. MGM Grand Detroit collected $3.1 million in handle in February, a significant drop from $5.2 million in January, but had a total qualified adjusted gross loss of $121,206.

Motorcity Casino had an even bigger drop, collecting just $4.7 million in handle in February compared to $9.8 million in wagers in January. In total, Motorcity Casino had $133,311 in losses in February. Across all three retail locations, losses stacked up to $120,141 in February alone.

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