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This weekend, Aaron Rodgers and doubters of Patrick Mahomes’ brilliance were not guaranteed to succeed on their home turf. However, one thing that was certain in online gambling was that Michigan players were fully prepared.
The state known as the Great Lakes State was expected to have a significant impact on the sports betting and online casino sectors. This prediction turned out to be true, as the opening weekend quickly rose to the forefront of the industry following its launch on Friday.
Until the Michigan Gaming Control Board releases the January numbers on Feb. 10, the exact magnitude of the opening remains unknown. However, all signs point towards a significant weekend of betting throughout the state.
Michigan set standard for wagers in its opening weekend
Michigan emerged as the dominant force in online gambling, surpassing Virginia in terms of records set during their respective launches. This information is based on data from GeoComply, the geolocation tracking service utilized in multiple states, including Michigan. Despite Virginia sports betting commencing a day earlier than Michigan, the latter state proved to be the true powerhouse in this arena.
On Thursday, Virginia introduced FanDuel as its first operator, with DraftKings set to launch later on Sunday. It’s worth mentioning that Virginia exclusively permits legal online sports betting. In contrast, Michigan witnessed the debut of eight online casinos and ten sports betting platforms simultaneously.
According to GeoComply, Michigan emerged as the leading state in terms of transactions among legalized states. In conjunction with Virginia, Michigan’s online gambling sector accounted for a total of 7.5 million transactions across over 400,000 accounts. Together, these states contributed to 25% of the overall US market over the weekend, surpassing national records with a staggering 30 million geolocation transactions.
Despite glitches, BetMGM Michigan reports a strong launch
BetMGM had a rough weekend, encountering some challenges along the way.
Throughout Friday afternoon, the industry giant, aiming to break into the top tier of platform providers, encountered technical difficulties with its app.
According to a spokesperson, the issues were attributed to high traffic, but they were quickly resolved. However, users expressed their grievances about the app on Twitter over the weekend. On Monday morning, there was a temporary inability to access accounts. Playinmichigan contacted BetMGM for updates on Monday.
However, the promising numbers were shared with Playinmichigan on Friday evening.
In the initial seven hours, Elisa Richardson from BetMGM reported that customers achieved over 200,000 successful logins and engaged in more than 2 million casino spins.
In just a matter of hours, BetMGM surpassed its most successful launch to date in Tennessee on November 1st by three times, according to her statement.
Barstool Fund donations deliver big numbers
Barstool Sportsbook is anticipated to present the closest approximation of accurate figures from the weekend. Despite initially focusing solely on sports betting, the vibrant brand is still projected to generate impressive statistics.
The parent company, Penn National Gaming, has committed to matching the initial deposits made by first-time Michigan users during the first weekend, which will be donated to The Barstool Fund.
Over the weekend, Founder Dave Portnoy and other Barstool personalities embarked on a viral marketing campaign, making appearances at Penn’s Greektown Casino and various locations in Michigan. Their efforts garnered significant attention for the brand, particularly through Portnoy’s renowned pizza reviews and his determined endeavor to definitively settle the American vs. Lafayette coney dog debate.
On Tuesday, PNG reported that the drive will match over $3.1 million.
BetRivers: Blackjack the big winner in online casino play
Playinmichigan has contacted all 10 operators in the state and will provide ongoing updates on their findings.
BetRivers provided several percentage breakdowns, which included:
- In Michigan, the NFC Championship Game garnered the highest betting volume, with the AFC Championship Game following closely behind.
- The NFL conference championship games accounted for 39% of the overall weekend handle in the state.
- Even though the basketball programs of both Michigan and Michigan State were temporarily halted because of COVID-19, college basketball remained the second most popular sport for betting in Michigan.
- Over the weekend, the Detroit Pistons emerged as the NBA team with the highest number of bets placed on them, with Phoenix coming in a close second.
- Table games accounted for 39% of the total casino handle, making Blackjack the most favored casino game.
- With 10% of the total slot handle, 88 Fortunes emerged as the most favored slot game.
- More than 120 casino games were initially accessible on the day of launch, and additional games were anticipated to be included by Monday.
Richard Schwartz, the president of Rush Street Interactive, expressed his satisfaction with the weekend’s performance in Michigan, describing it as a promising beginning. Rush Street Interactive is the company behind BetRivers online gambling platform.
“We are extremely excited to witness the launch of our BetRivers.com platform in the thriving Michigan market. The overwhelming response we received during this initial weekend reaffirms the immense demand for online casino and sports betting. Our Michigan customers have shown great enthusiasm for the convenience of placing wagers on a wide variety of thrilling online casino games and sporting events, all from the safety and comfort of their mobile devices and computers, using the user-friendly and enjoyable BetRivers.com platform.”
DraftKings: AFC Championship was weekend’s biggest event handle
DraftKings reported that, in contrast to BetRivers, the nightcap of the AFC Championship game drew the highest Michigan handle over the weekend.
These were the six largest events in Michigan over the weekend, ranked by handle.
- Sunday will feature the AFC Championship game between Buffalo and Kansas City.
- This Sunday, it’s the NFC Championship game between Tampa Bay and Green Bay.
- This Saturday night, UFC presents the highly anticipated match between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.
- On Sunday night, the NBA matchup will feature the New York Knicks taking on the Portland Trail Blazers.
- On Saturday night, the NBA game between the Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns will take place.
Additionally, consider this remarkable winning wager: A mere $2 bet was placed on a four-leg parlay predicting the first player to score in four NBA games. It turned out that Nikola Vucevic from the Orlando Magic, Andre Drummond from the Cleveland Cavaliers, R.J. Barrett from the New York Knicks, and Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks all delivered. The bet, with odds of +173,200, resulted in a payout of $3,465.
DraftKings bettors showed considerable support for the home teams in Michigan as well.
- The Detroit Red Wings, considered underdogs with odds of +30000, attracted 12% of the total bets placed on Stanley Cup futures. This placed them in third position among all NHL teams, with Vegas leading the way at 15% with odds of +700.
- The Detroit Tigers had the second-highest percentage of World Series future handle, receiving 20% of bets at a +10000 odds. On the other hand, the San Diego Padres attracted a larger portion, with 29% of the handle at odds of +800.
- The Lakers accounted for 56% of the NBA championship bets placed, with odds set at +250.
- In terms of the men’s basketball NCAA Tournament championship handle, Michigan emerged on top, drawing the highest percentage of 64% at +1400. Meanwhile, Michigan State secured the fourth position, capturing a 6% share at +4000.
TwinSpires: Packers were Michigan’s team this weekend
According to TwinSpires, it seems that Michigan residents were placing significant bets on the Packers. However, it is worth considering that this trend could possibly be attributed to the influence of that particular book.
TwinSpires has formed a partnership with the Hannahville Indian Community, potentially leading to an increase in Upper Peninsula fans using the app. This is particularly significant considering that the U.P. is predominantly known as Green Bay Packers territory.
According to spokesperson Andrew Brown, the Green Bay team received overwhelming support through the app. Reports show that almost 90% of the money wagered on the moneyline and over 80% of the spread handle favored Rodgers and the Pack to defeat Tampa Bay.
It is worth noting that TwinSpires is smartly leveraging the prominent figure of Green Bay legend Brett Favre to serve as its primary marketing representative.
Additional statistics from TwinSpires for Michigan are as follows:
- The majority of the spread handle, accounting for 61%, showed a preference for Kansas City over Buffalo. However, when it came to the moneyline handle, a larger percentage of 72% was placed on the Bills.
- According to Brown, a significant number of bettors on the site are utilizing complimentary bets in their predictions for the NBA championship, specifically favoring the Los Angeles Lakers.
- TwinSpires casino saw Blackjack emerge as the most popular game, surpassing SG Digital’s Texas Hold’Em Plus.
- The most popular online slot in the state on the NetEnt platform was Jimi Hendrix.
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