Gambling regulators in Michigan are proud of the work they have done to shut down sports predictions and other forms of unregulated gambling in the state, but expect to still be tested in the future.
Michigan Gaming Control Board Executive Director Henry Williams highlighted collaborative efforts with state attorney general’s office to get four prediction market operators to stop offering sports contracts during Tuesday’s meeting.
Polymarket agreed to shut down its sports offerings and close open positions by Nov. 25, the board announced in late October.
“The work they do each day on behalf of this agency is overwhelming,” Henry said. “They do an excellent job, and ensuring that we’re protecting the citizens of this great state, that we’re enforcing the licensing rules and the laws that the legislature has given us to enforce.”
Profits drive decisions
Chairman Jim Townsend does not expect prediction markets to be the last form of unregulated gaming the board will need to address to protect residents.
“I think we should all take heart in the progress that’s been made in trying to stand up to this assault by the prediction markets,” Townsend said. “But, regardless of what happens, probably what will happen in the court, these new market entrants are going to put a lot of pressure, I think, on this industry. And as the organization charged with regulating the industry, it seems to me that an industry that is under greater pressure, margin pressure, is going to have greater pressure to stress our system.
“You know, human beings are human beings, and the incentive to meet profit targets, and do all the things that are expected of a for-profit industry, those pressures will only grow regardless of what happens with these prediction markets. And that’s going to mean even more pressure, I think, on this organization, to do everything it can do under the law to enforce these regulations and make sure that Michiganders are protected, and their interests are served.”
Michigan tough on unregulated gaming
Michigan’s efforts to keep unregulated gaming out of the state predate the launch of sports contracts by prediction market operators. The MGCB has been at the forefront of cracking down on offshore sportsbooks and unregulated casinos for years.
Those efforts intensified in 2024 after the board sought help from the Department of Justice in 2023 without success. The MGCB also banned pick ’em DFS contests in late 2023.
The regulator has sent dozens of cease-and-desists to operators of all sizes since. It successfully got offshore giant Bovada to leave the state in June 2024.
The prediction market battles did not distract from those other enforcement efforts, either. In October. the MGCB sent 33 cease-and-desists to unregulated operators and sweepstakes casinos.
