Starting at noon Friday, legal online sports wagering and casino gaming goes live in Michigan.
Nearly a dozen casinos have partnered with online firms to offer apps that will allow gamblers across the state to place bets, without having to set foot in a casino.
Richard Kalm is the executive director of the Michigan Gaming Control Board. He expects online gaming will give a much needed boost to Michigan's casino industry which has been hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a whole new group of individuals that we believe is going to be attracted to gaming. And so it’s a whole new area, we anticipate that it will be expended in gaming in Michigan” says Kalm.
Kalm says regulators worked to get online sports wagering up and running ahead of next month’s Super Bowl.
He predicts online casino gambling and sport wagering will eventually be worth “hundreds of millions” of dollars to Michigan’s gaming industry. Tax revenues generated by the online gaming will be in part channelled to communities where the brick and mortar casino hosts are located in Michigan.
