Gamblers in the State of Michigan may have to wait a little longer before they can start enjoying sports betting over the internet.
Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of the State of California signed the online and land-based sports betting bills into law last month.
Citizens expected that after the governor appended his approval on the bill, online sports betting would take effect as soon as possible, most people expected the implementation at least after a week or so. However, that might not be the case.
According to a news piece that was recently shared by a reporter at casino.org, this week, Mary Kay Bean, the spokesperson for the MGCB, released a statement saying there was still a lot of work to be done before the law is actually implemented.
The gaming board will have to come up with rules and regulations that will be used to regulate the online sports betting. The regulations will then have to go through a series of approval by different agencies and departments.
She estimates that the task will take not less than a year, considering the board is still at the early stages of the process. Therefore, the first mobile betting wager will be launched sometime in 2021, but this is also only if everything goes exactly as scheduled.
However, Bean asserted that the first land-based sports betting venue should be launched sometime later in the year, probably during spring. Already casinos have started seeking partnerships with sportsbooks operators as well as building the required infrastructure.
How soon the first land-based sports betting venue will be opened, will depend on how fast the casinos will hand in their applications, have them approved and get licensed. PointsBet and Stars group have already announced their partnership with tribal gaming operators.
The sports betting act allows both tribal and commercial casinos to apply for sports betting licenses. The license will cost $100,000 and will be renewed annually at a cost of $50,000. Revenue earned from the sports betting will be taxed at a rate of 8.4 percent, with the casinos in Detroit having to part with more tax due to the additional 3.25 percent tax that the city charges on any gambling activity.
In recent years, sports betting has been legalized in several states and is so far operational in 14 states. While most states do not break down the revenue earned from sports betting into land and online, New Jersey does. From the numbers in New Jersey, it is evident online sports betting is the real deal. Out of the $4.58 billion in revenue that was earned in New Jersey from sports betting, 83.6% of it came from online gambling.
In New York, sports betting is only allowed in 4 casinos. Governor Andrew Cuomo has refused time and again to add mobile sports betting into his budget. Legislators now hope that he will eventually change his mind as he did in other controversial issues such as medical marijuana.
