Michigan Officially Lands Sports Betting After Long Wait

On Friday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bills that would legalize sports betting and online gaming in the state of Michigan. The signing comes after a long and drawn-out process that took seemingly forever to figure out.
Now, the hope is that casinos in The Great Lake State will be able to start accepting wagers in March. That would be just in time for March Madness, which has shown to be one of the most popular times of the year for this country.
Michigan is now the second-largest state in the Midwest that has legalized sports betting. Illinois is currently the biggest, although it has yet to formally start accepting wagers as of today.
Marvin Beatty, Vice President of Community and Public Relations at Greektown Casino, said that sports betting will begin only at physical locations. There have been other states that did the same thing, rolling out retail locations before going into online gaming.
The reason being is that policies need to be set for online gaming before releasing it to the public.
The Michigan Department of Treasury is estimating that sports betting will generate over $19 million in revenue, according to the governor’s office. That extra revenue will go to Michigan’s School Aid Fund and First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund – both of which range from about $4 to 5 million.
“My top priority in signing this legislation was protecting and investing in the School Aid Fund because our students deserve leaders who put their education first,” said Whitmer. “These bills will put more dollars in Michigan classrooms and increase funding for firefighters battling cancer. This is a real bipartisan win for our state.”
Rep. Brandt Iden, R-Oshtemo Township, was the one responsible for bringing the bills to the Legislature. It was him that showed Michigan these newer laws were entering “the modern era of gaming.”
“We’ll have a safe, regulated environment for the thousands of Michigan residents who for years have been forced to travel to other states or play on risky offshore sites,” Iden said.
Critics Of The Bills
As the case is in nearly every state, there are critics opposed to bringing legalized sports betting into their state. Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, claims that these bills are doing harm and will set individuals up for failure.
“The business of gambling does everything it can to take the largest possible legal amount of money from every user it can,” said McBroom in a speech on the Senate floor earlier this month.
At the end of the day, this is a good thing for the state of Michigan. Plenty of other states have benefited greatly from the legalization of sports betting, and a state with a population like this can only thrive – especially when the mobile betting aspect becomes available.
President and Chief Operating Officer at the MGM Grand Detroit, Michael Neubecker, was vocal in his approval of the happening events over the last week.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Michiganders, meeting their demand for sports wagering and generating more state revenue and funding for public schools,” said Neubecker.