The state of Michigan became the 20th in the United States of America to allow sports betting. It is no doubt news which will make every sports fan happy. After waiting for some time, Water Wonderland will join others who already started exploiting this area and using its benefits.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed on Dec 20, three separate bills – Lawful Sports Betting Act, the Lawful Internet Gaming Act, and the Fantasy Contests Consumer Protection Act. All of them are regulating sports betting and daily fantasy features.
The first one is about granting the sports betting licenses by the Michigan Gaming Control Board, the second refers to online gambling permits, and the latter is defining the boundaries of fantasy sports. So all the aspects of sports betting, regardless of whether it is online or direct are covered with these bills.
All in all, the people of Michigan will now have a lot of new options at their disposal when talking about sports betting. And it was about time.
Almost all the neighborhood states already had sports betting legalized, which meant one thing for Michigan – they had to adjust. Without following the trends, the state itself could only lose money, which, of course, is not good. Michigan was one of the federal units which suffered the most during the previous global economic crisis, and at the moment, it is recovering very good. Implementing this act, the economic growth will for sure get some additional boost. Other states figured out that much earlier, and are making a nice profit from it.
New Jersey’s sports betting market is generating enormous sums of money, meaning that the income from taxes is quite a substantial one. For Michigan’s economy, this is good business, and according to some projections, the state budget will be wealthier for $19 million, and the School Aid Fund for $4.8 million. Plus, not to forget all the new job places and the salaries of the workers.
The states surrounding Michigan entered the world of legalized sports betting earlier. Pennsylvania passed the law in 2017, New Jersey one year later, while Illinois and Indiana did that in 2019. All of them were taking the money from Michigan, which is probably why Governor Whitmer decided to uphold this legislation. The cash flow was going away from the state, instead of the other way around.
New Jersey is one of the states with the biggest revenue from sports betting, and in 2018 alone, sportsbooks generated $487.9 million of the handle. The Chicago Sun-Times roughly projected for the state of Illinois to have between $168 million and $338 million of the handle, with room for a significant improvement in the upcoming years.
Check this out, in September 2019, the state of Indiana saw sports betting creating $35 million of handle money and 8.5 million in revenue, and who knows how big of a percentage came from Michigan. Now, you probably ask how?
Apart from the traditional betting when you go to the operator yourself, online is the predominant way of wagering these days. Some 83% of all the bets facilitated in the state of New Jersey were online. It allows you to stay at home, be at work, or anywhere else in the world and place bets, as long as you have internet access.
It means that the punters from Michigan could potentially bet in any of the states mentioned above. All they needed to do is to open an account at any provider they choose, make a deposit, and proceed with betting. Simple as that, because modern technology is offering a lot of conveniences.
It is smart that the state of Michigan followed its neighbors and the trend which spreads around the United States.
In this text, we mentioned just a few benefits from allowing sports betting, and be sure that there are plenty more, who will appear long-term. It is up to you now to examine all the offers and find a way to utilize them in the best possible way. It’ll be a funs task during which you might learn new things. Some of them are going to be of use to you.
