March Madness encouraged over $475m in online and retail wagers, the largest statewide handle ever seen for a month without NFL games. In addition, online casino revenue reached over $130m for the first time, with PlayMichigan regarding this as evidence of even more growth to come.
Paul Costanzo, PlayMichigan Lead Analyst commented: “The popularity of the NCAA Tournament makes March the most important non-football month of the year for sportsbooks.
“March Madness didn’t produce nearly enough momentum to push sportsbooks to a fresh record, but it is more evidence that bettors remain highly engaged during major events.”
Within March, Michigan online sportsbooks achieved $451.6m in online bets. This is a 13.4% increase from the $398.4m of bets from February. As a combined total, Michigan’s online and retail sportsbooks reached $478m in wagers for the month. Again, this is a 12.8% increase from the $423.8m in February.
Individually, online sportsbooks earned $30.5m in gross revenue through March’s bets. This is a 35.4% improvement from $22.5m in February, but down 5.6% from $32.3m in March 2021.
Including $2m in retail revenue, Michigan’s sportsbooks earned $32.4m for the month. And after promotional credits, retail and online sportsbooks generated $16.6m in taxable revenue, meaning $967,314 in tax.
Eric Ramsey, Analyst for the PlayUSA Analyst Network, said: “The seasonal dip in sports betting really begins after the first full weekend of March Madness, and that slowdown should extend until football begins in September.
“If sportsbooks can keep posting year-over-year growth of around 25% or more as the NBA and NHL playoffs, baseball, and golf’s major championships take center stage over the next few months, the industry should be in a fantastic position heading into the fall.”
In terms of individual companies, leading the way for the online market was FanDuel with $140.1m, BetMGM gained the second highest total with $108.1m and third was DraftKings with $102.9m.
