Michigan sports bettors ended 2021 with a bang.
Detroit casinos reported their second-lowest net gain of 2021 from sports betting for the month of December, according to numbers reported Tuesday by the Michigan Gaming Control Board, and one casino was beat by the bettors.
A reported $1.11 million in adjusted gross receipts was the lowest total since February of 2021. That was the lone month that saw Detroit sports bettors collectively beat the house.
MotorCity Casino actually took a loss of $100,408 from sports betting gross receipts at its FanDuel Sportsbook.
December’s fate for Michigan online sports bettors has not yet been disclosed by the MGCB. The Michigan online sports betting revenue report for December is expected next week.
Detroit retail sportsbooks at a glance
Greektown Casino led the downtown Detroit market in sports betting for December, accounting for 38.7% of the market share at $11.6 million in wagers. Greektown ended 2021 as the lone Detroit casino with positive sports betting revenue every month.
MotorCity Casino had $9.3 million in wagers for the month, making up 31.0% of the market share. Still, it had negative receipts for the second time in 2021.
MGM Grand Detroit finished with just under $9.1 million in wagers. That accounted for 30.2% of the market share. However, MGM had the highest revenue of the three for December at $631,703.
Altogether, $58,052 were raised in city of Detroit taxes for the month of December. That put the final tally of Detroit taxes raised at $1,26 million for 2021.
| Licensee | Retail Handle | Revenue (GGR) | Promos | State Tax | Local Tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MGM Grand | $9,088,087 | $631,237 | $466 | $23,878 | $29,185 |
| MotorCity | $9,335,280 | -$100,408 | $50,256 | $0 | $0 |
| Greektown | $11,648,575 | $624,849 | $0 | $23,620 | $28,868 |
| Total | $30,071,942 | $1,155,678 | $50,722 | $47,498 | $58,053 |
Second-lowest hold all-time
December’s hold (gross receipts divided by total handle) was the second-lowest total since sports betting launched at Detroit casinos in March 2020.
Aside from February of 2021, December’s produced a hold of 3.7% Here’s a look at the five-lowest holds since March of 2020.
- Feb. 2021: -0.3%
- Dec. 2021: 3.7%
- April 2021: 6.3%
- July 2021: 6.6%
- Oct. 2021: 7.7%
The lowest hold of 2020 came in November at 9.3% The highest hold all-time for the state was in December 2020 at 19.4%.
Success on the gridiron likely played a role
The month of December was a strong one for football in the state of Michigan. That had sports bettors in the state coming up on the positive side of wagers.
“NBA, NFL and college football futures were favorable to the customers in December,” Kevin Hennessy of FanDuel Sportsbook told PlayMichigan. “Michigan’s Big Ten title game victory and its corresponding futures market were among the noteworthy local outcomes that favored our customers.”
Starting with college football, Michigan came through with its first Big Ten Championship in 17 years. On Dec. 4, the Wolverines defeated Iowa 42-3 to clinch the title.
Along with the single-game wagers, that kicked in a lot of futures wagers on U-M winning the conference title.
As we noted back in August, the Wolverines were coming into the season around +1700 to win the conference crown. Their odds to win the College Football Playoffs sat around +2000.
The Detroit Lions finished up the 2021-22 regular season on a high note as well. Detroit was 2-2 straight up and 3-1 against the spread for the month of December.
