What is the Biggest Gaming Sector in Michigan Right Now?

Online gambling continues to thrive in Michigan. In fact, according to the latest statistics, April 2022 was a record month for gambling sites, with statewide revenue topping $132.4 million. Not only is that the biggest monthly haul to-date, it was a 34% year-on-year increase.

This rate of growth puts the Great Lakes State on track to become the top online gambling state in the U.S. 

Let’s take a quick look at New Jersey, the longest-standing U.S.-regulated state for online gambling, including poker, casino, and sports betting. 

The Garden State’s online gambling and poker sites generated $814 million in the first half of 2022. Their counterparts in Michigan raked in $757 million during the same period.

Michigan is home to a million more people than New Jersey, but we can’t ignore the fact that the Garden State's online gambling industry has been active since 2013. 

The top Michigan online casinos went live in 2021. That means it has taken just over a year for Michigan to move within touching distance of New Jersey. If this level of growth continues, the Great Lake State will soon be known as a Great Gambling State.

If we assume this, the question is: what is the most popular betting activity in the state? The obvious and only answer, according to our research, is casino gaming. Sports betting is a budding entity, and poker will always be popular. 

However, when it comes to pulling power and revenue, online casino sites will dominate.

Official Revenues and Stats

Of course, that’s easy for us to say as experts in the online gambling business. 

For new or current players, here are some facts to consider:

Online Gaming Revenue for June 2022

• Total Gross Receipts: $121 million
• Total Adjusted Gross Receipts: $109 million

Online Sports Betting Revenue for June 2022

• Total Handle: $270 million
• Total Gross Sports Betting Receipts: $15.3 million
• Total Adjusted Gross Sports Betting Receipts: $5 million

Daily Fantasy Sports Revenue for May 2022

• Total Gross Receipts: $1.4 million

The official revenue reports don’t go into that much detail, but the numbers that really matter are the totals. We can get into adjusted figures another time. 

For now, just note how the total revenue for online gaming is eight times more than online sports betting and over 85 times more than fantasy sports. 

To say the disparity is wide would be an understatement. Online gaming is the biggest draw. What we don’t know, however, is which game is the most popular.

We can say with a high degree of certainty that slots dominate. The top poker site, PokerStars, has a 24-hour peak of 320 players. That’s not enough to generate over $100 million in revenue. 

We also know that BetMGM Michigan Casino is the top earner in the state.

In June, it generated $47 million in online casino gaming revenue. This app features over 300 slots, which is more than all the other games combined. 

On this basis, we can say that casino games are the most popular online gambling activity in this state, and that, among all the games available, players love slots the most.