October was a massive month for online casinos — and not just in Michigan.
The three biggest iGaming markets in the United States, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan, all set monthly revenue records. Pennyslvania’s $151.7 million in revenue is the new national record for a month, while New Jersey’s $147.2 million is second all-time.
Michigan online casinos brought in just under $141 million, the fourth highest month on record.
October 2022 was setup well to break online casino records
Several factors came together to form the perfect online gambling storm in October, and it starts with the calendar — a 31-day month that featured five weekends during football season.
One of the weird quirks for the Michigan online casino industry was that it was April, a 30-day month, that was the record holder in the state. Online casinos made $132.4 million in revenue that month, or $4.4 million per day.
The daily average was ahead of that in October, coming in at $4.5 million. Combined with an extra day, it broke the previous monthly record by more than $8 million.
October also featured five weekends, something that no doubt helped Michigan online sportsbooks eclipse $480 million in handle. Since most operators combine their casino and sportsbook apps, it’s easy for customers to bet on sports and play slots and table games in the same session.
In 2021, Michigan online casinos had their best months during football season. That, of course, was partly due to it being a new industry that was seeing consistent monthly growth. But the next big jump came in March 2022, which is the biggest non-football month for sports betting.
March 2022 was also the month that had provided the previous national record in Pennsylvania.
So, while online casino revenue doesn’t experience the same dramatic seasonal peaks and valleys as sports betting, it does tend to have its best months along with the sportsbooks.
Michigan online casino monthly growth outpaces PA and NJ
October represented a big month-to-month jump for the country’s top online casino markets, but Michigan’s was the biggest.
Michigan online casinos saw a 9.4% jump from September to October. It’s the biggest month-to-month increase since December 2021, when Michigan iGaming saw a 13.2% monthly increase.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania weren’t far behind in their monthly growth, as NJ online casino revenue grew by 8.8% from September, and PA online casino revenue grew by 8.6%.
BetMGM Michigan is a national leader
Michigan’s biggest online casino, BetMGM Michigan, had a record month of its own, bringing in $52.3 million. April was its previous high at just under $50 million.
While Pennsylvania and New Jersey break down their revenue numbers based on licensee and not individual operator, one could infer that no operator matched the Michigan giant in October.
Borgata, which holds the license for BetMGM and four other operators in New Jersey, was the leading licensee in the state, bringing in $41.9 million in revenue for the month.
In Pennsylvania, Hollywood Penn National brought in $60.9 million. Hollywood Penn National holds licenses for BetMGM, DraftKings, PointsBet, Hollywood and Barstool in PA. It is very unlikely any of those five had a better month that BetMGM Michigan.
