The gambling laws for the soon to be legal sports betting market in Michigan leaves plenty of room for fair competition. Sports betting is scheduled to launch in the ‘Wolverine State’ on Monday, January 25, 2021.
Michigan Gaming Control Board still has to give final approval to all the rules and regulations set forth by state lawmakers. That approval is set to happen on or before January 25. Sports betting providers that talked to Fox Detroit said it’d been a long hard battle to finally get sports betting to the fans and are eager for the official sports betting launch.
According to officials with the Michigan Gaming Control Board, the state has one of the lowest gaming tax rates in the country at 8.4%, making the state is a very attractive one to sportsbooks. Some states have outrageously high percentages, like Pennsylvania, which is close to 35%.
Michigan Sports Betting To Launch In Time For Super Bowl
The goal for all parties that worked on the sports betting bill was to get it up and running in time or Super Bowl LV, which is February 3, 2021. The Chief Marketing Officer for FanDuel, Mike Raffensperger, said that the tax rate is comparable to New Jersey with a rate of 8.5%. That’s the rate for sports bets placed in a physical location. The Garden State collects 13.1% for bets that are placed online. The New Jersey tax rate and powerhouse marketing teams lead the state to break all types of national sports betting recordings. They took in over 6 billion dollars in bets for 2020, which has the state as the number one market for sports betting in the country.
According to data released by the Division of Gaming in New Jersey, over 92% of the sports betting revenue was due to bets made online versus a physical location. Raffensperger and his team at FanDuel are “very excited to bring their brand of sports betting to Michigan.” He added, “Michigan is extremely exciting from a marketplace perspective. The legislation and the regulation was done very intelligently.”
State Of Michigan Being Praised For Competitive Tax Rate
Raffensberger said of the tax rate, “it’s very sustainable, it will be able to maintain their client base, and grow the base, and keep things very competitive.” Raffensperger, also talked about the seamless process for sports betting fans to open their online sports betting accounts. The FanDuel executive indicated that it’s best to keep things as simple as possible.
Those three issues, ease of opening an account, a low, competitive tax rate, and figuring out all the issues before launches, is a recipe for a thriving sports betting industry. Other sports betting platforms that are coming to the state noted that the state has a professional sports leagues in the four major leagues, it also has a very devoted fans, and two college teams that generate lots of interest and viewership. The CEO of DraftKings Matt Kalish, said the die-hard college fans in Michigan were “in immediate decision-maker for the company.”
