This year has been a newsworthy one for Michigan online casinos. In 2023, the state has seen four new online casino brands enter the market.
All four have branding that is well-recognized nationally, but not all can say they have a lot of momentum in Michigan.
Here’s a look at the current power rankings for the four new Michigan casinos and their potential in the state.
1. Caesars Palace Casino
In August, Caesars decided to shift away from having its online casino just be part of its Caesars Sportsbook app and created Caesars Palace Casino.
Caesars Palace Casino Michigan dramatically increased its game count and jackpot offerings while providing a standalone app for its users.
Through three months of revenue numbers, Caesars is averaging $6.7 million in monthly revenue in Michigan.
It should be noted that the casino feature still exists on the Caesars Sportsbook Michigan app, so it also is included in the revenue marks.
For the year, Caesars finds itself fifth in revenue through 10 months, sitting just a few dollars ahead of Golden Nugget Casino Michigan.
Already on the year, Caesars’ $68.7 million surpasses its 2022 total of $66.2 million. It’s currently 25.6% ahead of its 2022 pace through 10 months.
Caesars has continued to invest more into its online casino product and the push has been clear in the last two years. As Caesars Palace continues to grow, it’s likely to contend for a consistent top-five spot in Michigan.
2. Hollywood Casino Online
We don’t have any performance revenue numbers to go off yet for Hollywood Casino.
ESPN Bet/Hollywood Casino launched on Nov. 14 in Michigan. It replaced Barstool through the ownership of PENN Entertainment.
Prior to the switch, the Barstool Casino was definitely not riding a high point.
Barstool was one of the few Michigan online casinos that was on pace for less revenue in 2023 than 2022. It has amassed just $34.2 million on the year and was coming off August and September months where it ranked 10th or lower of the 15 online operators.
In October, its last hurrah for a full month of operation, it recorded $3.3 million in revenue, which saw it jump to seventh.
The ESPN brand is expected to carry a lot of weight, but will that translate over to Hollywood Casino play?
ESPN Bet was reported to have a two-day record for most sports betting app downloads over its first two days of operation. It’s unknown how many of those downloads were in Michigan. It also doesn’t guarantee they used the Hollywood Casino app.
Overall the move to the new Hollywood Casino should be positive, as it connects players to one of the Michigan retail casinos, similar to BetMGM/MGM Grand Detroit.
Hollywood Casino has a lot of ground to make up on its peers, but PENN Entertainment is going to put in the effort to make sure it doesn’t fail.
3. PointsBet, A Fanatics Experience
Even prior to the Fanatics’ acquisition of PointsBets US assets, PointsBet was putting in more effort to boost its online casino performance.
Throughout the year, PointsBet Casino ads have been more noticeable in Michigan. That has led to it already surpassing its 2022 revenue total for 2023.
Through 10 months of 2023, PointsBet sits at $15.2 million. In all of 2022, it had $10.8 million in revenue.
While Michigan hasn’t fully seen PointsBet transition into Fanatics Casino, it has seen a slight addition in recent months. “A Fanatics Experience” is new to the PointsBet logo and it seems to be helping.
PointsBet has seen consecutive months with record monthly online casino revenue. It brought in $1.9 million in September and $2.2 million in October.
The Fanatics brand has some weight and it will continue to support the iGaming product. That should help it make a push to quickly climb up the online casino rankings.
4. Sports Illustrated Casino
In February, Sports Illustrated Casino Michigan launched, officially replacing TwinSpires.
As expected, SI Casino saw some early success, posting $2.1 million in March revenue, its first full month of operation.
However, SI has not been able to get back to that point since.
Since the February launch, SI Casino has ranked last of the 15 online casino operators in revenue for four of the nine months it has existed.
SI sits at $12.6 million in revenue for 2023 thus far. It is unlikely that SI will surpass the 2021 revenue total TwinSpires reached of $16.7 million.
Sports Illustrated has a respectable game count and a lot of jackpot options. However, it doesn’t seem to have much of an advertising presence.
With a field of 15 operators, it’s easy to get swallowed up by the big players in the state. SI is going to have to make some adjustments if it wants to climb out of the bottom of the pit of Michigan online casinos.
