In the United States, Michigan is the latest state to start offering online gambling services. Having started less than a month ago, the industry is off to an amazing start. In just a few days time, the industry has seen so much action, it is actually comparable to more established markets like New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The state’s Gaming Control Board recently issued the monthly revenue report and it showed that $29.4 million was earned since launching on January 22. There are nine online casinos operating in the state that attributed to that amount.
Promising Start
While Michigan is off to a great start, it is important to consider that the industry is new. The first few days and even weeks will see moderate success due to it being a new form of entertainment offered in the state. However, it is a good indication as to how successful the market will be. There will be more signups over time, so the operators will continue to work on building a steady client list.
Right now, the state has been averaging just under $3 million per day. If they were operational for the full month of January, then this would equal out to over $91 million. Of course, this is only speculation since the industry started on January 22, but it could be what we will see over the next few months.
This total is comparable to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. New Jersey is the most mature market and has been able to reach a huge milestone of $100 million this past month. Pennsylvania is not far behind with more than $80 million in earnings.
In Michigan, operators have pushed to see signups take place. Over $1.8 million was provided in free play to residents. Taking this away still provides the state with over $27 million in earnings. For January, operators paid $5.8 million in taxes and $4.3 million of that amount went to the state.
The tax rate that operators are issued is based on the annual performance. It can range from 20 to 28 percent. Last month, the rate was set at 21.1%.
How Operators Fared
Let’s take a look at how the operators in the state fared. Early on BetMGM Casino showed promise as the top earner. In the report, the operator showed $11.1 million in adjusted gross receipts. Next in line was DraftKings earning $6.2 million and FanDuel earning $6 million. By itself, BetMGM accounted for 40% of the adjusted gross receipts.
BetMGM already has experience in the online gambling realm, having offered services in New Jersey for quite some time. They just recently started offering services in Pennsylvania and are also operational in West Virginia.
Breaking it down even further, we see that PokerStars and BetRivers are the only operators in the state that are earning more than $100,000 a day in revenues. They are taking up a section of the market as well. Wynn, Golden Nugget, William Hill, and Twin Spires also offer services in the state.
The early figures show that Michigan is going to be successful with its online gambling industry. It will be interesting to see full-month reports coming up as the industry continues to grow and mature. Just how large will the market get and how much money will it earn?
