Highlights From Michigan’s First Weekend With Online Sports Betting
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On Friday, Michigan went live with online sports betting after a lot of anticipation leading up to the expansion. 10 sports betting operators went live in the state. Three were at Detroit’s commercial casino, while the rest launched with tribal casinos in the state.
Percent of mobile sports betting market share in Michigan based on incremental app downloads in state in first 3 days:
DraftKings: 40%
FanDuel: 27%
Barstool: 14%
BetMGM: 13%
William Hill: 3%
PointsBet: 2%(Source: Bank of America)
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 26, 2021
Not a huge surprise, but DraftKings and FanDuel led the way with the most downloads. Barstool Sportsbook followed in downloads, which has been popular among younger sports bettors. BetMGM was the only other sportsbook with over 12% of the downloads from the first three days.
According to Darren Rovell, one of the more impressive stats of the day was that BetMGM reported having more than 200,000 log-ins in the first seven hours after it launched in Michigan. The demand for online sports betting in Michigan is huge, and the state had a great first weekend because of it.
BetMGM Glitches and Portnoy Loses $100K
BetMGM had a high demand of users in the first weekend. On Monday, an MGM Detroit representative said the high volume of traffic caused the app to glitch on Friday. Some BetMGM users had difficulty redeeming the $200 in bonus bets BetMGM gave away on the launch date.
Fortunately, BetMGM was able to fix those issues later that Friday. Overall, BetMGM customers that were polled this weekend stated that they had a positive experience using the mobile app. The BetMGM clitch was the only app reported to have issues on the day of the launch.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy tweeted that he was betting $100,000 on the Detroit Pistons to beat the Houston Rockets. The Pistons heartbreakingly lost 103-102. Pornoty tweeted out that he got “caught up in the moment” although he was “responsibly gambling.”
Michigan was the second state that Barstool Sportsbook went live in. Portnoy’s $100,000 loss was not even the largest bet of the weekend. Ooze, a cannabis accessory supplier, business partner George Sinishtaj made an honorable $420,420 bet on the Bills to beat the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. Unfortunately, that bet did not hit either, and the funds went to the Barstool Relief Fund, which has helped small businesses during the pandemic.
What Did People Bet this Weekend
Michigan had a great weekend to launch online sports betting in the state. The NFL conference championship games were the two most bet sporting events on DraftKings Sportsbook this weekend. The Bills-Chiefs game was the most game of all-time, in terms of money handled, on the DraftKings platform.
Another popular sporting event that was bet on was UFC 257, which featured Conor McGregor and Daniel Poirier. UFC 257 was the most bet UFC event on record, according to DraftKings. The New York Knicks and Portland Trailblazers, and the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns games were the most bet NBA matchups of the weekend.
A lot of futures bets came in on Detroit sports and Michigan college sports. The Detroit Red Wings (14%) and Detroit Tigers (25%) were the most heavily bet championship futures this weekend. Michigan (60%) and Michigan State (15%) basketball also saw many actions for winning this season’s NCAA March Madness Tournament.
Michigan is going to become one of the largest sports betting industries in the U.S., and if the weekend is telling for what’s to come, 2021 should be a great first year for sports betting in the state.
