Michigan has clearly seen a leader in its online casino revenue market. BetMGM Michigan has led since Day 1 in this state back in January of 2021.
However, on the national scene, BetMGM has fallen to third in the national market share recently, behind DraftKings and FanDuel.
Is it a matter of time before BetMGM surrenders the Michigan online casino lead?
BetMGM maintains market lead in Michigan
BetMGM Casino Michigan has never had to look up at any of its peers in the state’s online casino revenue race.
However, it is seeing its market share dwindle over 2023.
In 2022, BetMGM came in with 37.2% of the Michigan online casino market share at $589 million. FanDuel Casino Michigan was a distant second at 16.3% ($258.7 million), while DraftKings Casino Michigan came in third at 15.7% ($248.4 million).
Through 10 months of 2023, BetMGM is only at 31.4% with $492.7 million. FanDuel is much closer in second at 20.3% ($318.5 million), while DraftKings has 18.7% ($293.2 million).
Golden Nugget lifts DraftKings to national lead
According to Eilers & Krejcik, DraftKings has the current national market share lead when it comes to online casino revenue.
DraftKings pulled a 29% national market share in October, while FanDuel came in at 21% and BetMGM sat third with 19%.
One thing that is important to know, is that Golden Nugget’s revenue actually counts towards DraftKings national number. So, its 29% market share is a combination of the revenue DraftKings and Golden Nugget do nationally.
If that applied in Michigan, DraftKings would move into the No. 2 position in the state. Golden Nugget Casino Michigan has 4.4% of the revenue market share in Michigan for 2023. Adding that to DraftKings would put it at 23.1%, equating to $361.7 million. That’s still well behind BetMGM here in Michigan.
In an attempt to get back in the national mix, BetMGM is focusing on personalization, trying to cater its platform to each individual customer. It addressed that during this week’s company update.
“One other thing (BetMGM) talked about was personalization. So, basically surfacing games that people actually want to play, this is something 888 did really well in the in Europe,” said Brad Allen, host of Zero Latecny: An Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Podcast. “It is kind of a Netflix-style, personalization recommendation engine. Like, if this person liked this, this slot over here, we think they might like this slot as well. So, we’re going to surface that. That’s something that MGM talked about.”
More fruit available in online casino market
The national market shares for online casinos look much different than for sports betting.
Sports betting is very dominant up top by the big three, mainly FanDuel and DraftKings.
Online casinos are more spread out, giving opportunities for more operators to succeed.
“One of the obvious kind of faults that can people can fall into is thinking that (online casino) is going to develop fundamentally the same way that sports has. And already it’s not particularly doing that,” Eilers & Krejcik SVP of Strategic Insight Alun Bowden said during the recent podcast.
“Casino gamblers are just, they’re superstitious, they feel unlucky. They want to move on to try something new that they want. They’re constantly chasing new bonuses, they’re constantly chasing new games and new products. There’s much more propensity to kind of shift around the brands and to get something new from your experience from your casino experience.”
Because of that, Bowdun also notes that you can see small operators succeed with having small market shares, as it still brings in millions in revenue. In Michigan, that includes name-brand operators like Four Winds and Soaring Eagle.
“If you look in Michigan you’ve got brands like Four Winds and Eagle taking like a 2% share,” Bowden said. “There’s potential there outside for smaller brands, for local heroes, for innovative companies who are providing a different experience, and for companies that kind of want to provide a different gaming experience.”
Both Four Winds and Eagle Casino & Sports sit in the top 10 monthly for online casino revenue in Michigan. That has led to $34 million in revenue this year for Four Winds, while Eagle Casino & Sports is at $27 million through 10 months of 2023.
