Do you know it’s now legal to play at Michigan Online Casinos?
That’s right, in December 2019, Michigan passed the law to legalize online casinos and sports betting.
The State of Michigan – The Great Lakes – has a wide variety of land based and online casinos to play at. Detroit, the largest city of Michigan, hosts the largest three land based casinos in the state,. Beyond Detroit and extending to the smaller cities, you will find many tribal casinos totaling approximately 50.
Michigan residents can also find great online casinos to play at, which are just as popular as the land based. Statistically land based casinos have had a higher betting turnover of approximately 10 to 1 over the online casinos, however this completely change in the year 2020, a year that is/was unprecedented
The question of playing at online casinos is often asked of our readers. As a country, the US is unique in allowing individual States to set their own gambling laws. This is unlike many other countries which set the laws at a national level. The state of Michigan has set their gambling laws quite liberally (a testament to the large number of casinos operating throughout the state). In December 2019 Michigan passed laws to legalize online gambling, including casino table games and sports betting. Prior to this, online casino activity, was technically unaddressed in law. Accordingly, online casinos was an unregulated industry, with state laws being outdated and not specifically mentioning online casinos.
Historically, there has never been any Player being fined or penalized for playing at online casinos within the borders of Michigan.
Michigan residents, you are also blessed with the opportunity of easily crossing the border to Canada, where they too have liberal gambling laws, and thus have available many Canadian online casinos. Michigan State will no doubt in the near future formally regulate online casinos, but in the mean time, Players should take note that there are no risks of playing at online casinos.
Michigan Offshore Casino Statistics
Michigan is the 19th most active state that participates in offshore online gambling at casinos as of 2020 with a gross win amount of $17.07m. Michigan contributes to 1.47% of all offshore casino activity in the United States for 2020.
Click here to see a breakdown of all offshore gambling activity broken down by state. The following is a breakdown of all offshore casino gambling from Michigan since 2003.
| Year | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Gross Win | $27.88m | $32.39m | $39.77m | $45.97m | $28.48m | $25.74m | $23.74m | $23.99m | $22.35m |
| Year | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020* |
| Gross Win | $22.67m | $22.44m | $22.12m | $21.66m | $21.17m | $20.69m | $20.31m | $19.77m | $17.07m |
*Note: Data from 2020 are currently based on estimates.
Source – H2 Gambling Capital
Offshore gambling statistics for sports betting from Michigan can be found here.
Top Michigan Online Casinos
| CASINO | RATING | BONUS | PLAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
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| 2 | 
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| 3 | 
El Royale Casino | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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| 4 | 
Red Dog Casino | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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| 5 | 
Slots.lv | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
| 200% up to $1,000 Welcome Bonus | PLAY NOW |
Are Michigan Online Casinos safe?
As with anything online nowadays, there are safe and honest merchants, and there are those which are unscrupulous. You will find this in any industry, and that is no different to Online Casinos. So, yes that are some online casinos that you should avoid but there are also many that are safe to play at. The online casino industry, in general, understands the importance upholding the principles of honesty and trustworthiness. To choose a safe online casino, select from out list of Michigan Online Casinos that we have created for you.
List of Michigan Online Casinos
Our list of Michigan Online Casinos, are based on the core principles of Honesty, Trust, Bonus packages and Game Quality and Selection. Yes, there are many other factors that can also be taken into consideration, such as deposit and withdrawal methods, however these generally do not differ from casino to casino.
Honesty and Trust – we rank the highest these two attributes. Without honesty and trust, that really is no point in playing. If you win, and the online casino doesn’t honor the win, then effectively you never had any chance to win in the first place. So why bother? Hence, finding an online casino which is honest and trustworthy is the highest principle to uphold. And yes, there have been many winners who have been withdraw.
Bonus Packages – these include Welcome Bonuses, daily/weekly/monthly prizes, VIP jackpots, complimentary free spins… the list goes on and on. We rank this second behind Honesty and Trust. Bonuses are what keeps your game rolling. Great bonuses are rewarding and invigorating. A great online casino will reward it’s players.
Game Selection and Quality – players could not be happier with online casinos with a wide game selection and high quality. In particular, enhancing enjoyment through great graphics, clear crystal audio and glitch free play, is really what Players love. We rank this third on the list of attributes in displaying our list of online casinos.
Online Slots
Of all the casino games, slots is bar far the most popular, and it’s no surprise that online is booming! The various themes, denominations and slot types surpasses those easily found at land based casinos, pubs and clubs, and the Welcome Bonuses, pool prizes and jackpots found online is fantastic.
Some may long for the good old days of pulling a lever, but the advancement of technology has spurn so many different gaming options that could never be match with a physical slot machine.
Having said that, owning a slot machine is a great hobby among many Michigan residents. Ownership of slot machines, by law, must be with the intent of being a hobby, and therefore slot machines must be 25 years or older to be legally owned for private purposes.
Michigan Online Gambling
Not only can Michigan residents gamble at online casinos. But you can also now legally gamble online for sports betting. This too became legal in December 2019, when a blanket law was passed to allow many forms of online gambling.
Sadly, online sports betting has yet to completely takeoff, due to the 2020 environment, however there is much optimism that when normality returns, online sports betting would be come extremely popular.
Pari-mutuel online betting is available for horse racing, but in limited capacity. Michigan is one of the few US states that remain offering horse race betting. The industry isn’t growing at the pace as it used to be, and therefore online horse bets is not as popular as online casino betting.
Lastly, the Michigan State Lottery offers various games and methods of playing online games. This include purchasing through online various tickets to lotto pools, and other fun little games. The Lottery has grown rapidly in the past decade, and continues to expand it’s online gaming.
Legality of Michigan Online Gambling
As a Michigan Player, the question of playing at online casinos is often asked.
In December 2019, legislation was passed to legalize online gambling – this includes table games and slot games that are offered by online casinos. Though formal regulatory controls have yet to be implemented, this provides assurance to online casino players that it is legal to play at online casinos.
Prior to December 2019, online gambling was a gray area, because gambling laws do not address specifically the “online” aspect. This was indicative of outdated State laws – which Michigan was not alone in this regard, with many other states still having this same issue.
As a result, online casinos were unregulated. What was clear, however, is that online casinos CANNOT be based onshore. Thus, Michigan Online Casinos were, and currently still are, all based offshore.
Michigan Players who played at the offshore online casinos, played with no legal repercussions. Up until the change in law in December 2019, there had been no precedence of any Michigan resident being charged by law enforcement agencies of playing at online casinos.
In summary, there is no specific laws that forbids or prevents Michigan residents from play at online casinos.
Legal Disclaimer:
WagerDex has disclosed the above statements as information only. We do not purport that the information is complete nor correct in entirety. The above statements are not be used as specific legal advice. No attorney and clients relationship exists between WagerDex and readers of this site.
Michigan Gaming Control Board
Since playing at online casinos has become legal in December 2019, it’s important to understand that the next steps in operationalising online gambling is through the regulator which is the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB). This department is responsible setting the policies, implementing them, and putting in place controls that protect the interest of the Michigan State.
Currently, there are many services that the department performs. These include:
- Audits of the three commercial casinos that are located in Detroit.
- Licensing and processing of charitable gaming for venues who want to subscribe to Millionaires program.
- Appropriate equipment that meets quality standards are being used at casinos across the state.
- Gambling revenue is submitted and paid in a timely manner, and is accurately calculated.
