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Detroit Casinos to Launch Retail Sports Betting From Today

  • MGM Grand Detroit and Greektown will roll out services today at 1pm
  • MotorCity to launch sports wagering product on March 12 at 10am
  • All three casinos will operate on temporary licensing from Michigan Gaming Control Board
  • Board did not have enough time to grant permanent licenses by March Madness
Sadonna Price

stopwatch with the words time to launch
Detroit’s three casinos will be the first to launch sports betting services in the state of Michigan, starting today at 1pm. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Retail sports betting open from 1pm

The MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown Casino, and MotorCity Casino in Detroit, Michigan got final approval to launch sports betting services this week.

casinos can now begin offering sports wagering services from 1pm today

The three gambling facilities submitted their plans for operations to the Michigan Gaming Control Board during a public meeting. The board learned the full details of each casino’s plans for retail sports betting before deciding to give them the go-ahead.

Casinos can now begin offering sports wagering services from 1pm today. Both the MGM Grand Detroit and Greektown plan on taking advantage of the start time and will open at the said hour on Wednesday. MotorCity will wait until Thursday 10am to launch its products. Each property was given a temporary sports betting license.

Details of each casino’s offerings

During Tuesday’s meeting, all three casinos had representatives on hand to present their plans. Each of the operators will be using a different software provider for their sports betting services.

The largest operation will be offered at the MotorCity Casino, as the venue will have a total of 54 kiosks for self-placed wagers and six betting windows. The Greektown Casino facility will be home to 28 kiosks and only four betting counters. The MGM Grand will house even fewer kiosks, with only 16 planned. The casino will offer six betting windows for customers to make use of when they’re looking to place large wagers.

After the meeting, the Michigan Gaming Control Board’s executive director, Richard Kalm, said the new sports betting option will be great for the state’s casinos as it will drive market activity. He added: “There’s not a lot of margin to make a lot of money at sports betting per se, but it will drive traffic in the casinos. So they’ll be able to market other amenities: hotel rooms, drinks and other gaming that goes on.”

Temporary licensing essential

For the casinos to get started with sports betting by the time March Madness begins on March 17, temporary licensing was essential. Kalm stated that the board did not have time to do a deep dive or a complete investigation into the operators, but that its members are comfortable that each has been vetted properly. Suppliers of the casinos are regulated by the Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association.

the board did not have time to do a deep dive or a complete investigation into the operators

All eyes have been on the state of Michigan since it embarked on the process of setting up the sports betting industry. According to VSO News, the state’s Gaming Control Board was expected to give final approval during yesterday’s meeting as the casinos had already met preliminary requirements.

Now that in-person betting is a go, customers can begin making wagers at all three venues.

Online sports betting should be launched by next year. According to Kalm, the rulemaking process for the online sports betting sector is about 30% complete.

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