Michigan’s online casinos kickstarted 2022, the second calendar year for the market, by grossing $121.2 million in January, data from the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) show.
January’s revenue was down less than half a percentage point from December’s record ($121.8 million), but January was still the second-highest month for revenue since the MI iGaming market’s inception in January 2021. January was also the fifth consecutive month where revenue exceeded $100 million — although none of those months saw consecutive increases in revenue.
Revenue for online casino includes poker because the MGCB does not report poker revenue separately. Since the regulator does not separate the two verticals, the contribution of poker to the final revenue total is not known.
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Caesars, WynnBET, Parx Post Big Market Gains
Since the market started, BetMGM Casino MI dominated the combined verticals, and continues to do so by a massive margin. The top operator grossed $43.9 million in January, down 4.5% from its record high in December ($46 million).
DraftKings Casino MI followed with $20.1 million in revenue in January, which was flat month-over-month — the operator grossed just $8,351 less in January. FanDuel Casino MI was third in revenue with $17.6 million, also flat compared to December.
All but one of the mid-tier operators in the Wolverine State saw increased revenue month-over-month — coming in fifth-place, Golden Nugget was the unlucky one, grossing $6 million, a 2.4% decline from December ($6.1 million).
Fourth-place operator BetRivers Casino MI crossed the $8 million threshold for the first time, pulling in a record $8.2 million in revenue in January, up 3.6% month-to-month ($7.9 million).
In seventh place, WynnBET continued its upward trajectory for a second consecutive month and hit $5.3 million in January, up 11% from December ($4.8 million). The trend has WynnBET closing in on Golden Nugget for sixth-place overall in revenue.
One month after yielding the seventh spot to WynnBET, Barstool continued chugging along with modest growth, grossing $4.9 million in January, a 2.2% increase month-to-month ($4.8 million).
Although FOX Bet/PokerStars led the other mid-tier operators in the market’s two opening months and were in second-place through April 2021, the twosome remained at the bottom of the class heading into 2022, grossing $3.2 million in January. But it was also their best month since 215971-michigan-online-casino-revenue-slips-june and it provided more evidence they had recovered from a disastrous October 2021, when they grossed just $985k.
Real growth was on display among the six smallest operators in the state. Caesars reached $4.4 million in revenue in January — up 10% from December ($4 million) but a 25-fold increase from June 2021 ($173k).
Parx grew its revenue by nearly 45% month-over-month, reaching a record-high $2.2 million in January. Pala ($2.1 million), TwinSpires ($1.3 million), and FireKeepers ($1.1 million) followed. PointsBet grossed $827k in January, but that was a 29.4% decline from December ($1.2 million).
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Another Record Handle in January
Sports bettors in Michigan drove a record handle for the fourth consecutive month, hitting $496.8 million in January. Handle increased 2.5% from December, MGCB data show.
FanDuel Sportsbook MI had the highest handle in January, but just barely — a mere $693k in bets separated its share of handle ($132.7 million) from DraftKings Sportsbook MI ($132 million). BetMGM Sportsbook MI was third with a $110.9 million handle.
The remaining 11 sportsbooks generated a $121.2 million handle, down from $135.6 million in December 2021. The smaller books accounted for 24.4% of handle in January, down from 28% in December.
Overall revenue from sports betting was flat month-to-month at $34.7 million, according to the MGCB.
FanDuel grew its sports betting revenue to $12.3 million in January, up from $9.6 million in December. BetMGM Sports also saw increased revenue, hitting $10.9 million in January, up from $9.4 million. But DraftKings slipped to $5.9 million, down from $7.3 million.
