Michigan is a brilliant state for MLS fans who like to place a bet or two on the outcome of their team’s next soccer match. That goes for all sorts, not just Major League Soccer.
In fact, Michigan constantly ranks in the top 5 states by sports betting handle, meaning Michiganders wager more than most of the rest of the country. It probably helps a great deal that as well as being a sporty state, betting online is legal and easy to do, and has been since 2019.
It wasn’t always this way though, with sports betting being illegal for decades before the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was repealed in 2018.
Here is how things changed.
History of Gambling Laws in Michigan
Like most other American states, gambling was unregulated in Michigan’s early days. Societal pressures and religious attitudes eventually stamped it out in pleasant company, but in 1933 the Racing Act brought horse racing to the state. Then in 1972 the law loosened again, but only a little, in order to allow a State Lottery to help with public funding, as well as ‘charitable gaming’ to raise money for good causes.
The first real casinos came in the late 1980s after the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) was passed. The twelve recognised tribes eventually opened as many as 20 casinos in the Great Lakes State.
Sports betting still wasn’t really a thing in America. The federal tax laws made it too difficult to profit legally so most bookmaking was done underground as part of organised crime gangs. This tax was heavily reduced, but it came right before PASPA was introduced in 1992, making all sports betting illegal, so few states had time to act.
Casinos were still legal though, and Michigan voters approved the Michigan Gaming Control and Revenue Act in 1996, allowing commercial casinos to operate in the state. Three were opened:
- MGM Grand Detroit
- MotorCity Casino Hotel
- Hollywood Casino at Greektown (formerly Greektown Casino)
This is important because online sportsbooks would later link up with these venues, once PASPA was repealed in 2018.
The Road to Legalized Sports Betting
Although the state was keen to implement sports betting once PASPA was repealed, they ran into a number of issues which delayed things until 2021.
They wanted to roll out everything at the same time, so sports betting, casino, poker, and daily fantasy sports, all in one package. This in itself meant a lot of logistical issues as the various different industries moved to get themselves organised, with some inevitably having to wait for others to catch up.
Then they had to make sure the tribal casinos were happy with the package since commercial casinos were going to be entering the market too. When they came up with a Bill everyone was happy with and it passed both houses, it was vetoed by outgoing Governor, Rick Snyder. He was concerned about the impact it would have on lottery revenue for schools.
Gretchen Whitmer became the Governor in 2019, and because of this the process had to start over, so House Bill 4916 was drafted. Whitmer was pro-gambling, but she appreciated Snyder’s concerns and wanted protections put in place for the School Aid Fund. This took time, and the final Bill wasn’t signed into law until December 2019.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board then needed time to research, write, approve, and implement all the new rules and regulations that would be needed to regulate the industry, not to mention going through the licensing procedure with all the companies wanting to trade in the state. Vetting, establishing compliance measures, geolocation infrastructure, coordinating agreements between land based providers and their digital counterparts – this all took time.
Then COVID hit.
By January 2021, everything was finally ready, and Michigan ‘switched on’ their gambling industry. All of a sudden, the Great Lakes State was one of the best equipped and well regulated betting and gambling locations in the United States. They took $3.6 billion in sports wagers in their first year of operation from a population of around 10 million people.
Betting Rules
Michigan’s rules around sports betting are pretty standard:
- Must be aged 21+
- Betting allowed on all professional and college sports
- Betting not allowed on high school or amateur sports
- Online betting companies must partner with retail locations
- Tax rate of 8.4% with additional 1.25% for businesses in Detroit
MLS Clubs in Michigan
There is no Major League Soccer club in Michigan. There is a USL team called Detroit City FC, and an exciting new team founded in 2024 temporarily called West Michigan Soccer which joined MLS NEXT Pro in 2027, but no MLS club.
Michigan is surrounded by states that do have MLS clubs: St Louis FC and Chicago Fire in Illinois, Toronto FC over the border in Canada, FC Cincinnati and Columbus Crew in Ohio, and even Minnesota United aren’t that far away from the North Western border. This could make Michigan a good location for an expansion club at some point, but there are no current plans or rumours.
There is certainly an appetite for soccer in the State, with a huge number of youngsters playing the game. This bodes well for the future, but as things stand, basketball and American football are the front runners.
As for soccer fans in Michigan, they have a large number of teams to choose from in terms of support. Chicago Fire are probably the closest club for most Michiganders, with the South of the state being the most densely populated, but the biggest city in the state is Detroit, which is on the East cost closer to Toronto FC. It’s only an hour and half to Chicago from the closest border, so that’s certainly the easiest stadium to get to.
Any fans in the North are miles from a soccer stadium, but if they live close to the border with Wisconsin they could get to a Minnesota United game in a brisk 4 hour drive with good traffic. Realistically, no one in North Michigan is regularly going to live games, but their geographic location might have a hand in which club they end up following and betting on.