Sports Betting Slide Extends to Michigan

The rash of disappointing yet expected monthly figures out of participating legal sports betting states continued Friday when The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) released their April numbers. With the whole of the US scene seemingly at the beginning of an annual summer betting slowdown period, Michigan's numbers didn't catch many off guard and could get worse the next few months.

The summer months have always been lean for the US legal sports betting industry. Absent of their bread-and-butter NFL and big tournaments such as March Madness, sportsbooks across the country have traditionally been forced to rely on just baseball for their betting handles.

This year is a bit different, however. The NBA and NHL playoffs have extended the betting window for the two sports into late summer, which should, in theory provide a boost to betting providers.

Diving Into the Numbers

A look at the sports betting figures out of Michigan reveals a significant slide, both in terms of handle and revenues. In fact, Michigan's decline is among the worst percentage wise we have seen among the April sports betting figures released so far.

Michigan's overall handle came in at $249.9 million for April - a significant 30.5% drop from the $359.5 million they saw in March when the NCAA Basketball tournament was in full swing. When added to the $24.3 million retail take, sports betting numbers in Michigan came out to $274.2 million, a 29.7% slide from the $383.7 million reported in March.

Revenues followed the overall April handle downturn. Just $21.9 million in profits was made by the state's sportsbooks, which represents a healthy 38% drop from March. The state reported a 7.9% hold rate, which is also a dip from the 9.2% reported in March.

Tax contributions to state and local coffers amounted to $499,763 in April, also a sharp decline.

Now for Some Good

Michigan's online sports betting platform continues to be one of the envies of the entirety of the national wagering scene. Bolstered by all of the top names in the legal sports betting space, Michigan's apps contributed about 91% of their overall legal sports betting haul in April.

With April's legal sports betting numbers, the state of Michigan was able to reach a milestone and set a national record at the same time. The Michigan sports betting scene just eclipsed the $1 billion mark in terms of overall handle since its launch January 22. The state becomes the quickest to do so with their $1.03 billion in 99 days.

April Could Be Just the Start

Most participating sports betting states are expecting a summer slowdown, and in most cases, the Super Bowl and March Madness hangovers have already begun. But some analysts are pointing to the increased exposure of the MLB season, the NHL and NBA playoffs (which are starting and ending later this year) the Olympics, and Euro 2020 as events that could keep Michigan's sportsbooks from at least mitigating the effects of a major slowdown.

September is being pointed to as the cure for the entire legal sports betting scene in Michigan. While the state likely won't approach record-handles until the NFL kicks off, settling for their consistent top-5 spot on the list of bet-friendly states doesn't appear to be in danger.

The Michigan scene is young, but it is strong. All of the top-tier providers in the industry will be in a summer-long battle to acquire customers and keep them for the NFL season, meaning that bettors in the state may be the biggest beneficiary of the impending slowdown.