Michigan Sports Betting

Online sports betting is also live and legal in Michigan. The Governor signed the Michigan Lawful Sports Betting Act into law in December 2019, allowing for retail and land-based sports betting. Michigan’s first retail establishments opened in March 2020, but it took until January 2021 for mobile betting options to become available. To date, 12 online sports betting apps are available, with only more set to launch in the coming months. 

Here’s a close look at the MI sports betting industry and how you can start betting on all your favorites from your device today. 

Best MI Online Sportsbooks 

With such a rapidly growing market and many operators seeking to have a piece of the pie, narrowing down your options and choosing the best online sports betting apps available can be challenging and time-consuming. Thankfully, we’ve done the hard work for you! Here are the best online sportsbooks in Michigan based on everything from their welcome bonuses to their market coverage and everything else in between. 

Legal Sports Betting Options in Michigan  

According to Michigan laws, online sportsbooks can offer the following types of bets: 

• Moneyline Bets: As the most straightforward type of bets, moneylines are where you bet on which team will win. If correct, you get a payout. 

• Over-Under Bets: Also known as totals, you have to predict the total score of both teams. The operator will also make a prediction, and you will be betting over or under their guess. 

• Spreads: Rather than betting on the win, in spread bets, you are wagering on whether the end result will be above or below the bookmaker’s predictions. 

• Propositions: These bets are on individual outcomes or specific events rather than the game overall outcome, such as which player will be first to score, or other team stats. 

The laws also allow for multiple bets to be tied up in one, which are known as parlays. For a parlay bet to win, all of your options have to come in. You can also place teasers which are again a combination of bets on different games, but you can adjust the spread of the bet to make it more favorable for you to increase your chance of winning. 

In terms of sports, you’re also spoilt for choice. The law itself doesn’t list a selection of sports that are legal, and so it was down to the Michigan Gaming Control Board to determine this when writing the rules. However, the options are pretty extensive and include everything from NASCAR to baseball, and from hockey to tennis. This means you can bet on all your favorite local teams, such as the Detroit Pistons, Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings, who have all also expressed their support for sports betting by partnering with online operators including BetMGM, FanDuel, and PointsBet. 

Fantasy Sports in Michigan 

If you’re looking to play fantasy sports online, you’ll be pleased to hear that the Internet Gaming Act passed in 2019 included DFS, which is now live and legal in Michigan as of January 2020. Although DFS sites were up and running in the state before this date, there was much debate over the legalization of the industry, so it’s great to have a clear legal stance in place. 

DraftKings and FanDuel are the two leading operators by a long mile, accounting for 90% of the state’s DFS market. If you’re looking to draft fantasy sports teams and participate in a range of exciting contests on an easy-to-use and intuitive platform with great mobile capabilities, both sites will do the job perfectly. DraftKings does have a slightly larger selection of sports to choose from, but other than that the two are on par. MI is also the home of lesser-known fantasy sports sites including Yahoo Fantasy Sports, Fantasy Sports Shark, and SportsHub Games Network. 

Online Horse Betting in Michigan 

The state of Michigan has a long history of horse race betting since pari-mutuel betting was legalized nearly 90 years ago. Dozens of racetracks have entered and left the state during this time, and currently, there is one live racetrack still standing, the Northville Downs. In 2019 when the Internet Gaming Act was passed, placing horse racing wagers online was also made legal.  

Online operators quickly started offering horse racing bets to Michigan residents after this, with market-leading TVG being the first to debut. This site offers coverage from 150 live tracks worldwide. Since then, several others have followed suit, including TwinSpires, Xpressbet, and AmWager. Many of the state’s online sportsbooks that launched in January 2021 also offer wagers on racing events from around the world. 

If placing horse racing wagers using one of the state’s regulated sportsbooks, the process is the same as if you were placing a bet on any other sporting event. Similarly, if using a dedicated online racebook, you can create an online account, deposit funds, and start betting online from anywhere in the borders of Michigan. 

Are there Michigan sportsbook apps for my smartphone?

Yes – the majority of sports bets are placed on mobiles or tablets nowadays, and so most Michigan sportsbooks have iOS and Android applications to make mobile wagering even easier. For those that don’t, or for anyone who doesn’t wish to download a mobile app to their device, the websites are also generally mobile compatible and function just as well on your smartphone as they do on a desktop.