Posted on
Michigan, Sports, Sports Betting

Emagine Sports Lounge to be Rebranded as Caesars Sportsbook Lounge

By Brian Walker

Hundred Dollar Bills on Top of Sports Betting Tickets
Michigan-based Emagine Entertainment announced on Monday that the Emagine Sports Lounge is rebranding as the Caesars Sportsbook Lounge Powered by Emagine.

The move comes after Emagine, owners of 344 theaters in 29 different sites, revealed that it had entered into a deal with Caesars Entertainment to give the gambling company a sportsbook presence in the Wolverine State. Currently, Caesars operates a retail sportsbook in Traverse City and a mobile site.

Said Emagine Entertainment CEO Anthony LaVerde in an official press statement:

“Partnering with Caesars is a major milestone in our ongoing commitment to being the most innovative theater chain in the country”.

No Admission Cost to Enter the Lounge

According to Emagine, the theater will be turned into a sportsbook by dividing its 42-feet LED screens into TVs of different dimensions to show different live games. A display dedicated to betting odds for those wagering via mobil phones. Although Caesars is the preferred platform inside the venue, bettors are free to access any other mobile sportsbook.

The lounge is equipped with theater-quality sound, hi-speed WiFi, and heated leather recliners, and tables that hold premium food and beverages served by the property. There will be no admission cost to enter the lounge. Caesars will have representatives on site to facilitate mobile signups and they are expected to benefit from Emagine’s wide customer base.

Part of a Larger Agreement

The Emagine Sports Lounge rebrand is part of a larger agreement between Emagine and Caesars where they plan to put Caesars-branded sports betting lounges to Emagine’s other properties in other states, including Illinois and Indiana. The Emagine Sports Lounge at the Royal Oak is just the pilot project.

The sportsbook at the Royal Oak cinema complex opened in December 2021 with the intention of providing sports fans to watch their favorite sports live while they gamble online. With the Caesars rebrand, it will create a new stream of income for Emagine which relied only on selling food and beverage at the Emagine Sports Lounge since its opening.

Posted on
Michigan, Online Gambling, Sports Betting

Michigan Online Casinos Yield Record Figures in March 2022

By Brian Walker

Michigan State Seal Background With Online Casino Gambling
Michigan’s online casino and sports betting industry produced impressive figures for Mach 2022. According to PlayMichigan, the state’s online casino revenue went over the $130 million mark for the first time ever while the Wolverine state’s online and retail sportsbooks generated over $475 million in betting handle, the largest ever for a month without NFL in the state.

Sports Betting Fueled by March Madness

The surge in sports bets was attributed to the popularity of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament which is held in March. Michigan’s online sportsbooks attracted $451.6 million in online bets last month which was a 13.4% increase from the $398.4 million in sports bets reported in February 2022. With Detroit’s retail sportsbooks registering a total of $26.4 million in betting handle, March 2022 took in a total of $478 million in total wagers for the month, which is up 12.8% from its previous month performance.

Overall, Michigan sportsbooks won $32.4 million during March 2022, including $30.5 million from internet betting sites. The online sportsbook figures for March is 35.4% better than February 2022 but is down 5.6% from the amount generated last March 2021. After deductions, retail and online sportsbooks netted $16.6 million in taxable revenue which yielded $967,314 in taxes for the state.

Online Casinos Continue to Surge

Likewise, Michigan’s online casinos continued to surge, reaching $131.7 million in revenues for March 2022. That amount shattered the previous state record of $122.8 million which was set during the previous month. The state’s online casinos have set a record revenue in three out of the last four months of operation.

On the average, the state’s online casinos generated $4.2 million in revenue per day during the month of March. The amount was slightly lower than the $4.4 million monthly revenue during February 2022. Meanwhile, the state received $33.1 million in taxes and fees from online casinos during the month of March 2022, bringing the total of taxes and fees received since online gaming was legalized in 2021 to $368.9 million.

Posted on
Uncategorized

Soaring Eagle to Launch Sportsbook on Day of NCAA Title Game

By Brian Walker

Michigan State Seal Background With Online Casino Gambling
Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan will launch its own sportsbook on the day of the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament championship game.

Dubbed as the Ascend Sportsbook, Michigan’s latest sports betting shop will open its doors to the public on April 4th. The launch will begin at 4 p.m. with remarks from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and Soaring Eagle executives.

Said Kristina Griffus, Director of iGaming and sports betting operations of Soaring Eagle:

“Ascend Sportsbook is the perfect spot. It’s a great place to watch a game and it really has all the elements that make for a great sportsbook. It’s an energetic game-day atmosphere, has plenty of TV’s, and you can’t beat the food and drinks.”

Grand Launch and Celebration

To celebrate its grand opening, Soaring Eagle will have some very special guests on hand. Among those joining the festivities will be Morris Peterson, Mateen Cleaves and other members of the 2000 NCAA Men’s Basketball champions Michigan State University Spartans.

A live DJ will be on hand to preside the entertainment side of things. Meanwhile, drink specials will include $1.75 for Coors Light drafts and $2 for Coors Light bottles. Ascend will also be offering a 50% coupon for an appetizer if you make a 3+leg parlay bet at the sports betting window.

Push into iGaming and Sports Betting

The sportsbook is part of Soaring Eagle’s statewide push into iGaming and sports betting. Last November, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe announced that it would be partnering with Kambi Group Plc to bring sports betting to the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort. A mobile platform is also expected to be launched later this spring. The online games will include slots and table games.

Unlike the other casinos in the state which partnered with national sports betting companies Soaring Eagle chose to go without a brand partner. Eight of the other 12 casinos who have entered into sports betting have elected to partner with national brands like Golden Nugget and Draft Kings. Only FireKeepers, Four Winds, Gun Lake, and Soaring Eagle have self-branded sportsbooks.

Posted on
Michigan, Sports, Sports Betting

March Madness Drives Michigan Online Betting’s March 2021 Figures

By Brian Walker

Basketball On A Court On Left And March Madness Bracket On Right And Logo In Center

The 2021 March Madness was the first time that Michigan residents could bet legally on college basketball’s postseason and for the Wolverine State, it was a slam dunk.

Based figures released by the Michigan Gaming Control Board, the state’s foray into legal online gambling continues to gain momentum, exceeding expectations that were first thought to be too high.

Effect of March Madness

The MGCB reported that a total of $359.4M were wagered online in March. That represented a 19.1% mark up from the previous month and the driving force behind the increase was March Madness, where the University of Michigan Wolverines made it all the way to the Elite Eight.

Meanwhile, the gross sports betting receipts or the money kept by oddsmakers totaled $32.3M. Combined with retail sports bets, the total betting handle for the month of March was $383.7M, which is 17.1% up on February’s haul of $325.6M. Michigan’s March 2021 handle ranked third in the entire United States, behind only New Jersey ($860M) and Philadelphia ($560M).

Since the start of legal Michigan sports betting in March 2020, oddsmakers in the Wolverine State have generated a lifetime handle of close to $1B which easily surpasses the original projections when the Michigan sports betting bill was being discussed.

Michigan Online Betting Figures

Online gambling launched in the state in mid-January. As of March, there were a total of 12 operators authorized to offer one or both forms of online gambling. BetMGM led all online operators with a gross receipts of $8.7M.

BetMGM, the online platform tied to the MGM Grand Detroit Casino, led the internet pack with almost $30.8M in gross receipts for the month of March. Meanwhile, FanDuel, the online sports betting platform provider of the MotorCity Casino Hotel, paced the online sports betting side with a total handle of close to $107.2M.

Online casinos reported a gross gaming revenue of $95.1M in March which was a 19.2% increase from its February figures. Taxes tied to online gambling are based on adjusted gross receipts and for the month of March 2021, those totaled to $88.7M for internet gaming and $19M for online sports betting.

Posted on
Michigan, Online Gambling, Sports, Sports Betting

Michigan Online Sports Betting Took in $301.9M in Wagers During February 2021

By Brian Walker

Closeup of Man Making Sports Bets on His Phone
The Michigan Gaming Control Board revealed the state’s internet gaming and sports betting revenues for the month of February on Tuesday and the figures were solid.

According to the MGCB, the Wolverine State’s online sportsbooks took in a total of $301.9M in wagers during February 2021, including Super Bowl LV bets. The online handle was 130% higher than the retail handle of $23.7M for the same month.

The MGCB reported that the state’s 12 online betting operators had a total of $79.7M in gross receipts from internet gaming for February 2021 while also accumulating $9.5M in gross receipts from online sports betting. These resulted in a total of $14.1M in tax revenues for the state.

Said Michigan Gaming Control Board executive director Richard S. Kalm:

“Michigan residents and visitors continued to show strong interest in internet gaming and sports betting during a snowy and cold February. “The internet gaming taxes more than tripled, but that’s what we expected with a full month of gaming. This means more funding for the City of Detroit, K-12 education, economic development and tribal communities.”

Little Revenue from Sports Betting

MotorCity Casino Hotel, which has FanDuel as its platform provider, collected the most bets for February 2021 with a total of $87.2M. MGM Grand Detroit, powered by BetMGM, came in second with $75.7M in total bets. The DraftKings powered Bay Mills took in $72.9M while Barstool Sports at Greektown Casino had an online handle of $40.3M last month.

Interestingly, only BetMGM posted positive receipts among the Top 3 with $5.3M in gross receipts and $2.4M in adjusted gain or $140,000 in tax payments. FanDuel reported an adjusted loss of $5.4M for February while DraftKings posted a $5.1M adjusted loss for the same month. Neither Fanduel and DaftKings reported any state tax payments for the second consecutive month.

Emerging as a Top Market

Combined with retail sports betting in casinos around the Wolverine State, Michigan sportsbooks saw a total of $325.6M in sports bets during the month of February. That’s the fifth largest total for any state for the month of February, making Michigan the 5th largest sports betting market in the United States, at least for the month.

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins raved about his company’s early iGaming success in Michigan. Per Robins, Michigan’s iGaming handle per capita on Super Bowl Sunday was nearly twice the per capita handle New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia iGaming Apps for their first Super Bowl despite the three states going live for for an average of 179 days and Michigan going up for only 17 days on the average.

Posted on
Michigan, Online Gambling, Sports, Sports Betting

MGCB Approves the Launch of 11th Online Sports Betting Operator in Michigan

By Brian Walker

Person Browsing a Sports Betting Site on a Tablet
The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced on Monday that it has approved another online gambling operator in the Wolverine state.

Four Winds Casino received the green light to commence online gambling activities through its platform provider Pala Interactive LLC. The new online Michigan sports betting and online gaming operator was permitted to go live as of noon on Monday.

Said MGCB Executive Director Richard Kalm in a statement:

“We welcome the addition of Four Winds Casinos and Pala Interactive to Michigan’s growing online gaming and sports wagering market. Their participation will generate revenue to support education, economic development and the Pokagon Band’s tribal community.”

Four Winds Casino Brand

The Four Winds Casino and Pala Interactive LLC partnership is the 11th online operator to offer Michigan sports betting and online gaming. The Four Winds Casino brand is operated by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. It currently has three properties in the western portion of the state near Lake Michigan, namely Dowagiac, Hartford, and New Buffalo.

Although the Four Winds and Pala partnership missed out on the Super Bowl, it will have three weeks to prepare for the next biggest sporting spectacle in the United States in the NCAA Basketball tournament. The University of Michigan Wolverines are one of the top basketball teams in college basketball and their success could spark March Madness bets in the state.

First State to Open Three Verticals Simultaneously

Michigan sports betting was legalized on December 20, 2019 after Bills S4916 and H4311 were passed and signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Physical sportsbooks became operational after the Michigan sports betting bills were signed. However, it was only last January 22, 2021 when online sports betting commenced in the Wolverine state.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board has been tasked to administer and regulate Michigan sports betting and online gaming. So far, it has approved a total of 15 mobile gaming licenses. Online poker and online gaming also launched on January 22nd, marking the first time that a U.S. state chose to open the doors on the three verticals simultaneously.