Author:

Richard Miller

Last Updated:

November 15, 2020

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This author was thoroughly tested and approved by the experts at BettingBilly.com before joining the editorial board to ensure a high content quality.

Author Bio:

 

Richard was Marketing Manager at a global bookmaker and worked in the enterntainment sector for decades before working his way up in the world of entrepreneurs. His focus areas are mainly in the fields of sports and politics. He has a Science Degree, visited Harvard University and is now our hardworking Editor-in-Chief at BettingBilly.

Richard was Marketing Manager at a global bookmaker and worked in the enterntainment sector for decades before working his way up in the world of entrepreneurs. His focus areas are mainly in the fields of sports and politics. He has a Science Degree, visited Harvard University and is now our hardworking Editor-in-Chief at BettingBilly.

Michigan Online Sports Betting in 2020

Following the abolition of PASPA in 2018, Michigan was one of the states that decided to legalize sports betting. The actual process took over a year and in December 2019, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Bill 4916 which allowed both land based and online bookmakers to exist in the state. To date, Detroit based commercial casinos have introduced live betting options, while we are still waiting for Michigan sports betting online to start with operation.

Michigan acted on the Supreme Court’s decision to allow states to regulate sports betting within their borders from 2018 quite quickly, but still only managed to become the 20^th state to regulate sports betting. The Lawful Sports Betting Act was passed in December 2019 and all land based casinos within the state were immediately given the green light to apply for a gaming license.

Now that sports betting in Michigan became legal, each casino must apply for a sports betting license with the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB). The licenses cost USD 100.000 initially and USD 50.000 for each year after, but the casinos jumped at the opportunity to establish sporsbooks.

At this time, there are three commercial casinos in the state, each of them located in the Detroit area. All three of these casinos have applied and been successfully granted a license for sports betting. In addition, another 23 tribal casinos within the state were allowed to open sportsbooks on their premises. The main difference between the commercial and tribal casinos is that people below the Michigan sports betting age of 21 can gamble in some of them, with 18 being the limit in some tribal casinos.

When the Lawful Sports Betting Act was signed in late 2019, it allowed online sports betting in Michigan along with retail sports betting. However, like most states, Michigan needs some time to make sports betting online a reality as the casinos need to work with online betting operators to establish partnerships and find common ground before sites can be launched.

With all legal obstacles now out of the way, the only real question is which casino will partner up with which sports betting operator to offer the online betting services. Each operator who wants to apply for a license must partner up with one of the commercial or tribal casinos in the state, so there are plenty of options in play and likely quite a few sites will be live before the end of 2020.

When it comes to online sports betting, there will probably not be too many restrictions in place, as operators will be able to offer sports betting online across the board. The only restrictions that will apply will be those of geolocation and age, as only players playing from within Michigan and over the age of 21 will be allowed to place bets via these online betting sites.

At Betting Billy, we do our best to present our players with the finest sports betting options, so you can be sure to find up to date reviews of Michigan based legal sportsbooks and all updates on new sites being launched right here. The most important thing to remember is to choose a legal site instead of an offshore one, as this is the only way you can be guaranteed safety and payment of any potential winnings.

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Along with retail and online sports betting, the Michigan sports betting bill also makes way for legal mobile betting, which will be supplied by the same operators that are granted online gambling licenses. These operators are able to launch their own betting apps and provide all their betting markets to players within Michigan on the go.

The date of launch of the first Michigan sports betting app is expected to be sometime in the second half of 2020, but more apps are likely to hit the market in the months following it. Like online sports betting, mobile betting will be offered by international betting operators in conjunction with local Detroit based or tribal casinos from Michigan.

When it comes to sports, Michigan is easily one of the more versatile states with major basketball, football, baseball and hockey teams. This goes for both the professional and the college level and the sports fans in the state are often torn apart between supporting the different sides. The real ones support all the local teams of course, which is why the Michigan bookies have been swamped with business since they day they opened.

At the college level, the University of Michigan wins the popularity contest with the Wolverines having the biggest base of supporters. However, Michigan State has a competitive team of its own and their supporter base is not too shabby at all, making for some fantastic domestic rivalry.

On the professional level, Detroit has teams representing Michigan in each of the country’s major leagues, with the NHL’s Red Wings probably having the greatest supporter base at home. The Detroit Pistons are a staple name in the NBA, while MLB’s Tigers and NFL’s Lions complete the group and make for a great representation of Michigan across the board.

Given the extreme popularity and competitiveness in Michigan sports, the sports betting market is likely to remain healthy for many years to come. A well-known fact is that sports fans love to bet on home teams and the great number of competitive teams in the state will only spark up the business for betting sites in Michigan.

Just like most other states, sportsbook betting in Michigan is set to cover a wide range of different sports, competitions and markets. The original bill that made it legal to bet in Michigan allowed the regulator, Michigan Gaming Control Board, to regulate which sports could be bet on and in what capacity.

The regulator decided to make bets on all major American and plenty of other international sports possible, but limited some sports to only major events. For this reason, players may only be able to place wagers on certain sports during World Cups or Olympic Games, with rugby being one such sport.

Apart from this, the only other limitation involves sports that are played by minors. High school leagues and games will be excluded from any sports betting, simply due to how easy they are to influence. Not a single state in America has made betting on these legal yet, but college football and other college sports betting will be allowed throughout Michigan.

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Gambling in Michigan has a fairly rich history that dates beyond the 20^th century. However, the first real legal gambling opportunity for the people of Michigan came in 1933, when the state founded the Office of Racing Commissioner, which was in charge of pari-mutuel horse racing.

It took some time until other opportunities appeared for gambling in Michigan and in 1972 the State Lottery was founded. Public Act 239 set up the Lottery that year and was signed by governor William Milliken. In 1996, the Lottery introduced The Big Game, a multistate lottery that gave Michigan citizens a chance at some life changing jackpots.

Starting in 1993, the state started allowing tribal nations within Michigan to open tribal casinos, 23 of which are currently in operation. These casinos allow persons of 18 or 19 years of age to gamble within their premises. Past that, the 1996 Proposal E allowed for three commercial casinos to be open in the Detroit area, which are still operating.

All of the above mentioned casinos opened a sportsbook as well in early 2020, following the passage of the Michigan sports gambling law in December 2019. Each Michigan sportsbook must be tied to a casino, but each of them rushed to allow sports betting as soon as it was legal. Today, players can bet on sports in all legal casinos in the state, while online sports gambling is also coming later within the year.