March Takeaways: 3 Things from Michigan's Online Gaming Report

Michigan’s online gaming continues to grow with each full month that passes. March Madness boosted the online sports betting market, while online casinos continue to flourish in March.

Online gaming operators in Michigan reported $95.1 million in internet gaming gross receipts for March, while internet sports betting operators received $32.3 million in total gross sports betting receipts. The state's online sports betting handle came in at $359.4 million for the month of March.

Michigan Sports Betting March vs. February

	Total handle	Mobile handle	Revenue (GGR)
March	$383.692M	$359.450M	$21.861M
February	$325.569M	$301.857M	-$10.822M
Change	Up 17.9%	Up 19.1%	------

Here are three takeaways from Michigan’s second full month with mobile sports betting and online casino gaming.

Sportsbooks End Up in Green

After two months where online sportsbooks took collective losses, Michigan operators had their first month with a positive revenue in online sports betting. Sportsbooks are currently fighting for a share of the market and have been attempting to acquire customers through betting boosts, free bets and other types of giveaways. These promotions have resulted in a negative opening two months for online sportsbooks. In January, sportsbooks were collectively down $5.2 million in total adjusted gross sports betting receipts and reported a loss of $10.8 million in February.

But sportsbooks were able to bounce back in March with $19 million in total adjusted gross sports betting receipts. The operators’ total adjusted gross sports betting receipt is $3 million since the state went live with its mobile sports betting platforms on Jan. 22.

Sportsbooks were likely aided by the misfortunes of the Michigan and Michigan State basketball teams during the month. MSU lost straight up and failed to cover in its 68-57 loss to Maryland in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, while Michigan was ousted in the second round of the conference tourney by Ohio State 68-67.

MSU was also defeated in its First Four matchup against UCLA 86-80. The Bruins later topped Michigan in the Elite Eight, winning 51-49 over the Wolverines. The loss meant all Michigan Final Four and national title futures were graded as losers, in addition to any faithful MSU backers who were hoping for a deep tournament run. Both teams combined to go just 3-5 against the spread in March.

FanDuel, BetMGM, DraftKings Continue to Thrive

The Big Three of FanDuel, BetMGM and DraftKings have continued to separate themselves from the rest of the online sportsbook competition.

Each of the three experienced growth from February to March, with FanDuel reporting an online handle of $107.2 million, up from $87.2 million in February. BetMGM saw an increase to $92.6 million from $75.7 million in the previous month, while DraftKings had a handle of $76.5 million after reporting $73 million in February.

But while those three continued to flourish, Barstool saw a slight dip. In February, the Barstool Sportsbook reported a sports betting handle of $40.3 million but dropped to $39.6 million for March. Barstool is still comfortable the fourth biggest operator, ahead of PointsBet who had a handle of $14.1 million for March. But Barstool was the lone sportsbook that didn’t see its overall handle grow from February to March. All 11 other online sportsbooks reported a higher handle in March compared to February.

BetMGM Casino Reaches $30M; Online Casinos Growing

BetMGM’s online casino reigned supreme for the third straight month, reporting the highest revenue at $30.8 million. It’s the first time an online casino operator has eclipsed the $30 million mark since the state went live with online casinos.

Overall, the state reported $95 million in online casino and poker revenue, up from $79.7 million in February. Michigan’s online casino revenue placed it third in the country, behind online New Jersey ($113.7 million) and Pennsylvania ($97.7 million).

Since Jan. 22, online casinos have generated $204.2 million in revenue.

Similar to online sports betting, Barstool was the only operator to not see an increase in revenue from February to March. Barstool’s casino revenue fell from $5.2 million in February to $3.9 million in March. All 10 other online casino operators besides Barstool saw revenue increases in March.