Online sports betting in Michigan had an interesting 2023.
The sector looked to be taking a clear path to underperforming compared to 2022. Then online sportsbooks rallied in football season to change the narrative.
Not only did online sportsbook revenue surpass 2022, but online handle did as well by a narrow margin.
Unlike the Michigan online casinos, the improvement in 2023 was relatively uniform for the majority of operators.
It was a handful of Michigan online sportsbooks that did the heavy lifting to set new yearly records.
Trio of sportsbooks push Michigan to new record
Thanks to a tremendous surge from football season, Michigan online sports betting handle surpassed the previous record of 2022.
In 2023, Michigan’s online sportsbooks took in $4.63 billion in wagers, topping the 2022 mark of $4.55 billion by less than 2%.
| Operator | 2022 Online Handle | 2023 Online Handle | Year-Over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| BetRivers | $78,890,696 | $161,055,954 | 104.2% |
| Eagle Casino* | $12,328,587 | $22,990,019 | 86.5% |
| Four Winds | $8,173,093 | $10,757,504 | 31.6% |
| TwinSpires/SI | $11,744,736 | $13,894,941 | 18.3% |
| FanDuel | $1,376,705,605 | $1,600,414,450 | 16.2% |
| Golden Nugget | $12,051,785 | $13,984,829 | 16.0% |
| DraftKings | $1,150,569,916 | $1,258,017,570 | 9.3% |
| Caesars | $341,293,385 | $325,971,367 | -4.5% |
| WynnBet | $31,055,751 | $27,254,416 | -12.2% |
| Barstool/ESPN | $339,761,178 | $278,577,564 | -18.0% |
| Play Gun Lake | $17,958,120 | $14,503,326 | -19.2% |
| PointsBet | $124,990,725 | $100,416,557 | -19.7% |
| BetMGM | $991,108,443 | $774,816,247 | -21.8% |
| FireKeepers | $21,577,932 | $15,026,619 | -30.4% |
| Fox Bet** | $32,145,827 | $11,541,385 | -64.1% |
| Total | $4,550,355,781 | $4,629,222,748 | 1.7% |
*Eagle Casino & Sports launched in Michigan in April 2022
**Fox Bet ended operations on July 31, 2023
It wasn’t quite the banner year though for a number of sportsbooks.
Eight of the 15 online operators saw a decline in handle year-over-year. Perhaps the most notable was BetMGM Sportsbook Michigan seeing an overall decline of over $216 million in wagers on the year.
So, how did the state overcome the losses? It’s about as simple as three books making up for BetMGM.
FanDuel Sportsbook Michigan, DraftKings Sportsbook Michigan and BetRivers Sportsbook Michigan each saw big overall gains in wagers in 2023.
FanDuel led the way with over $223 million in added wagers. DraftKings added over $107 million, while BeRivers more than doubled its 2022 total by adding over $82 million.
The three combined accounted for over $400 million in added handle in 2023.
Sports betting revenue grows at higher rate in 2023
While online handle was struggling to keep pace with the 2022 benchmarks, online revenue was consistently staying ahead of its previous year.
Ultimately, the Michigan online sportsbooks tacked on over $20 million more in revenue last year compared to its previous record in 2022. That was a 5.2% increase overall.
| Operator | 2022 Online Revenue | 2023 Online Revenue | Year-Over-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four Winds | $388,323 | $783,143 | 101.7% |
| Eagle Casino* | $989,315 | $1,923,084 | 94.4% |
| FireKeepers | $291,125 | $445,833 | 53.1% |
| DraftKings | $70,708,296 | $105,006,389 | 48.5% |
| BetRivers | $3,983,778 | $5,630,329 | 41.3% |
| TwinSpires/SI | $817,752 | $1,096,905 | 34.1% |
| FanDuel | $163,487,740 | $190,860,328 | 16.7% |
| Barstool/ESPN | $24,021,916 | $20,301,411 | -15.5% |
| WynnBet | $1,799,692 | $1,477,148 | -17.9% |
| Caesars | $20,092,010 | $15,149,500 | -24.6% |
| PointsBet | $10,861,297 | $7,984,704 | -26.5% |
| BetMGM | $97,503,849 | $67,474,982 | -30.8% |
| Play Gun Lake | $1,572,592 | $1,033,222 | -34.3% |
| Golden Nugget | $997,714 | $465,611 | -53.3% |
| Fox Bet** | $2,061,476 | $743,403 | -63.9% |
| Total | $399,576,873 | $420,375,991 | 5.2% |
Similarly to the handle, eight online sportsbooks had less revenue in 2023 than 2022.
BetMGM again suffered a notable loss in revenue, dipping over 30% year-over-year with over $30 million in losses.
FanDuel and DraftKings again carried the weight, this time for the revenue growth within the state.
DraftKings added the most sports betting revenue with over $34 million from 2022. FanDuel wasn’t far behind with over $27 million tacked on year-over-year.
Overall, Michigan’s online sportsbooks saw a slight improvement in hold from 8.8% in 2022 to 9.1% in 2023.
It was definitely a positive year for online sports betting that sets the stage for an interesting 2024.
