The online casino industry in Michigan has a lot of operators trending.
After a record-setting year of revenue in 2023 that approached $2 billion, many operators saw big gains last year.
That was followed by a record-setting revenue month in January to kick off the new year.
Which Michigan online casinos are trending upward? Which operators need to be concerned with recent results?
iGaming operators trending up
FanDuel
In a state where BetMGM has dominated the revenue leaderboard, FanDuel Casino Michigan has made an aggressive push to challenge for its spot on top of the mountain.
Coming into 2023, FanDuel had just about 19% of the iGaming market share in Michigan on a monthly basis. At that time, BetMGM had about 35%.
Over the year, FanDuel has poured a lot of focus into its online casino product. Better promotions, more games, and a better interface allowed it to climb steadily throughout 2023.
Things peaked in November, when FanDuel earned 25.1% of the market share for the month, less than 2% behind BetMGM.
Most recently, FanDuel had 23.6% of the market share in January, while BetMGM came in with 26.6%.
The market share growth in 2023 led to nearly $150 million more in revenue for FanDuel.
The clear story in 2023 was FanDuel pulling away as the No. 2 online casino in Michigan, with its eyes set on getting to No. 1 in 2024.
DraftKings
Third place in Michigan’s market isn’t a bad place to be.
While BetMGM tries to hold off FanDuel for first place, DraftKings Casino Michigan has steadily grown its market share to be the clear third option in the state.
DraftKings opened 2023 with 17% of the market share in the state, but it closed out three of the last four months of the year with at least 20%.
Its peak happened in September, when it earned 22.3% of the market, slightly finishing ahead of FanDuel for second.
While DraftKings has settled into third, its holding steadily around 20% currently.
With 1% for all of 2023 equaling $19.2 million, 20% is a big chunk of change for DraftKings.
Caesars Palace
With the top three operators taking up about 70% of the iGaming revenue in the state, the measurements of success are much different for the rest of the brands.
Caesars decided to dedicate more to its online casino in 2023. In August, they introduced Caesars Palace Michigan, a standalone iGaming app.
Since that time, Caesars has had two different avenues for iGaming in Michigan. Users can play on the Caesars Palace app, or on Caesars Sportsbook Michigan, which still offers a casino option.
While it took a little time for Caesars to see the positive results from the move, it has had a lot of growth over the last three months.
In November, Caesars came in with 5.2% of the market share. That was followed by 5.3% in December and then record-setting 5.6% in January.
Compared to its 3.7% lifetime share, Caesars is on the rise and has become a top-5 online casino in the Michigan market.
Hollywood Casino
One of the new online casinos in Michigan, Hollywood Casino replaced Barstool in November.
Since the move was made, PENN Entertainment has seen its iGaming product produce instant growth in revenue.
Barstool was at 2.1% or lower over its last three months of operation in Michigan. Hollywood Casino opened with 2.4% in November.
That immediately jumped up to 3.5% in December, the highest PENN has been since July of 2022.
The 2024 year opened with 2.8% in January for Hollywood Casino. While a decline, it still was greater than anything Barstool did in 2023.
With the tie-in to ESPN Bet, Hollywood Casino should continue to be on the rise. ESPN is heavily promoting the online sportsbook, which features Hollywood Casino built into the app.
PENN has touted the growth of its average monthly active users. They increased by 207% in Q4 of 2023.
As Hollywood Casino continues to build on its gaming library, it has a shot to push for a top-5 online casino in the state.
iGaming operators trending down
BetMGM
It’s hard to say the top operator in the state since launch is struggling. That’s not really the case.
But, it’s fair to say they are not trending in the right direction right now.
BetMGM Casino Michigan has been the monthly revenue leader since online casinos were legalized in January of 2021. Over the first two years, BetMGM was always coming in at 35% of the market share or greater.
However, 2023 saw that market share decline while its closest competitors were on the rise.
Since August, BetMGM has been under 30% of the monthly market share. Over the last three months, it has failed to get to 27%.
The drop in market share isn’t leading to big dips in actual revenue dollars. In 2023, BetMGM finished with just under $3 million less than it made in 2022. Last year it made a state-best $586.4 million with its online casino.
However, it was just one of three online casinos in the state that had less revenue in 2023 when compared to 2022.
Should that be the case again in 2024, BetMGM could find itself looking up at FanDuel at some point during the year.
PokerStars
Being the first online poker platform to wave the green flag for interstate play was a big achievement for PokerStars Michigan back on Jan. 1 of 2023.
It led to some immediate success for the online casino as well.
PokerStars closed 2022 with just 1.4% of the market share in December, but that climbed to 2.4% in January. PokerStars went on to hit 2% of the market share in four of the first nine months of 2023.
Since August, that number has dipped.
In the last five months, PokerStars has been at 1.7% or lower. The 1.5% it had in November was the lowest share it has seen since December of 2022. Prior to that was October of 2021 when it had just 0.9%.
With the luster of interstate poker having worn off, PokerStars finds itself struggling to bring in a new audience to its app.
