Michigan Sports Betting Handle $300 Million in February

Nick Wojcik's photo By Mar 17, 2021
Michigan Sports Betting

In its first full month of online sports betting, Michigan Sports Betting handle was reported at $301.9 million for February. The increase comes after online sports betting launched on January 22 of this year.

Michigan Sports Betting Revenue February 2021

February has been a rough month for U.S. sports betting. However, Michigan (along with Virginia) will most likely be the only state to report increases in its betting handle for February. The Wolverine State launched sports betting in March 2020, but only in-person betting was allowed. Covid-19 shut sportsbooks down for multiple months last year and hurt the industry until online betting finally went live in January.

Michigan sports bettting doubled its betting revenue losses for February, going from -$5.2 million in January to -$10.8 million. Bettors in the Wolverine State are not significantly better where they are robbing sportsbooks for everything they have. In the early months after launch, betting revenue could be negative due to the free plays and bonus money sportsbooks offer to get customers to sign-up and place deposits. After the first few months, Michigan should see positive revenue again.

The state still managed to collect $142,240 for the month, so it was not an entire loss even as revenue dropped below $0.

FanDuel has the early track for the largest betting handle among the sportsbooks in Michigan. The sports betting operator saw over $87.2 million in bets, with BetMGM having a $75.7 million betting handle for February. DraftKings finished third in betting handle with $73 million, and Barstool Sportsbooks rounded out the top four with $40.3 million in bets.

Michigan Sports Betting Handle By Operator

All other sportsbooks were below the $10 million betting handle mark.

March should bring greater results, thanks to the NCAA March Madness tournament returning for the first time in two years. Michigan bettors will also wager on the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans, who will both appear in the tournament.

The state could see a significant boost and surpass $400 million next month, similar to what Illinois did when it first launched online sports betting. With Michigan sports betting being the 10th largest U.S. market, there is still a long time until the betting handle peaks.