Michigan sportsbooks joined operators in 11 other US jurisdictions with a new handle record set in October.
Football betting and a crucial fifth full weekend pushed Michigan’s handle to $497.6 million. That’s up 28.6% from the old record of $386.8 million set in September.
Revenue from sports betting, on the other hand, was far from a record at $26.9 million for a 7.7% hold. Michigan allows operators to deduct promotional spending from taxable revenues, though, and operators dished out a combined $19.6 million in promos last month.
That means taxable Michigan sportsbook revenue fell to just $7.3 million, resulting in $775,077 total taxes paid.
Which Michigan sportsbooks gave out most promos?
Of the 15 online Michigan sportsbooks, five gave out more than $1 million in promos in October:
| Operator | Online Handle | Revenue | Hold | Promos | Handle share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FanDuel | $123,958,756 | $10,338,174 | 8.3% | $4,560,578 | 26.8% |
| DraftKings | $120,411,750 | $2,915,213 | 2.4% | $5,485,779 | 26.0% |
| BetMGM | $102,184,773 | $7,489,128 | 7.3% | $4,153,176 | 22.1% |
| Barstool | $40,010,642 | $839,273 | 2.1% | $556,307 | 8.6% |
| Caesars | $36,515,540 | $1,044,533 | 2.9% | $2,443,999 | 7.9% |
| PointsBet | $17,089,185 | $669,282 | 3.9% | $1,149,528 | 3.7% |
| FOX Bet | $7,068,956 | $259,076 | 3.7% | $255,549 | 1.5% |
| BetRivers | $5,099,382 | $214,052 | 4.2% | $237,748 | 1.1% |
| TwinSpires | $3,138,257 | $305,874 | 9.7% | $198,783 | 0.7% |
| WynnBET | $2,849,004 | $143,019 | 5.0% | $127,090 | 0.6% |
| Parx | $1,891,550 | -$28,603 | -1.5% | $127,936 | 0.4% |
| FireKeepers | $1,224,372 | $42,697 | 3.5% | $46,506 | 0.3% |
| Golden Nugget | $1,193,383 | $84,882 | 7.1% | $34,976 | 0.3% |
| Four Winds | $708,536 | -$11,635 | -1.6% | $234,033 | 0.2% |
| Total | $463,344,087 | $24,304,966 | 5.2% | $19,611,987 | 100.0% |
The $19.6 million in Michigan sportsbook promos was lower than the $23.7 million given out in September. That could be for a few reasons.
In September, sportsbooks are still trying to reactivate those customers who are only interested in betting on college football or NFL that may have stepped away since the winter. Most of that reactivation work is done before October rolls around.
Also, look at the hold rates: nine of the books held lower than 5% on the month. Bettors tend to need less incentive to bet when they’re winning consistently.
FanDuel snatches online lead back from DraftKings
DraftKings Sportsbook gave out the most promos with $5.5 million on the month but could not extend its handle lead to three months.
FanDuel Sportsbook, the second-most promotional sportsbook last month with $4.6 million handed out, is back on top of the online handle share list. FanDuel picked up 3.6 percentage points of online handle share in October while DraftKings fell 4.2 percentage points.
BetMGM remained safely in third place with 22.1% of the online handle share despite dropping 1.0 percentage points. Penn National‘s Barstool Sportsbook is a distant fourth with an online handle share of 8.6%.
Michigan sportsbooks in good national company
As of Thursday, there are now 12 US sports betting jurisdictions to report handle records in October thanks to that fifth full weekend:
- New Jersey: $1.3 billion
- Pennsylvania: $776.3 million
- Michigan: $497.6 million
- Indiana: $461.1 million
- Tennessee: $375.3 million
- Iowa: $280.9 million
- Mississippi: $83.5 million
- West Virginia: $77.8 million
- Oregon: $37.6 million
- Washington DC: $26.3 million
- New York: $25.6 million
Only Montana missed a handle record so far out of the 13 reporting jurisdictions.
