The summer slump is starting to make its appearance in betting states across the country and Michigan is no exception. The Detroit Tigers are the only major team to watch in May and it showed.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced that the state’s legal sports betting handle and revenue fell for a second straight month.
In May, the Great Lakes State accepted $305.2 million in bets last month, a nearly 10% decline and year-over-year data painted a worse picture. May 2023 was 14.2% worse than May 2022, which reported a $356 million handle. And an unfortunate trend is developing since April’s year-over-year numbers showed a nearly identical 14.6% drop off.
Despite all the bad news in handle, gross revenue stayed almost unchanged last month ($36.1 million vs April’s $36.2 million). This was due to an increase in hold from the state’s sportsbooks.
Michigan’s online sports betting sites and retail operators held 11.8% of the bets they took in, a sizable increase over April’s 10.7%. That’s three straight months of double-digit holds that boost the state’s tax bill.
After adjustments, the sportsbooks were billed a total of $2 million. The state charged operators $1.4 million, while the city and municipal fees totaled $683,712.
Online woes as retail stays the course
Thanks to the dip in overall handle, May is the first month in 2023 where no sportsbook exceeded $100 million in bets. Although, it's not that surprising as May 2022 saw the same breakdown.
FanDuel remained the No. 1 sportsbook in Michigan with a $99.7 million handle (a 13.1% drop). DraftKings stayed in second with $78.8 million in wagers (an 8.7% drop). BetMGM came in third with $46.2 million (a 16.1% drop).
Next was Caesars, who was the only top operator that grew last month. Their $25.1 million handle was a 7.2% increase. Barstool Sportsbook came after them with $15.3 million in bets (an 8.3% drop).
While the online landscape took a hit, the brick-and-mortar books had a relatively good month.
Of the three retail books, only BetMGM saw a decline in bets, although it was just a 2.3% hit. Barstool’s Greektown Casino saw an 8.8% jump and FanDuel’s MotorCity location saw a 26.8% boost in handle last month.
