Michigan Surpasses Pennsylvania to Emerge Second in US Online Casino Market

The effect of Michigan’s online casino industry boom has managed to send ripples nationwide, with the most notable being the state’s ranking among other online gambling jurisdictions. Michigan finished 2023 with a record-breaking $1.923 million to emerge second in the country for iGaming revenue. Furthermore, the Great Lakes State outpaced most jurisdictions in terms of average casino revenue per adult, coming in second only to New Jersey.

Sports betting turned out to be rather disappointing, though, as the state ended up outside the top 10 rankings for the highest wagering handle in 2023. Let’s crunch all these data for you and explore some additional developments in the US that may affect Michigan gambling.

In 2023, Michigan recorded what has turned out to be its highest annual online casino revenue ever, edging 2022’s total of $1.58 billion. The $1.92 billion recorded last year was enough to see the state sit among the top three jurisdictions with the highest yearly iGaming revenue.

Just like it did back in 2022, Pennsylvania comfortably retained the top spot with 32.2% market share and a whopping $2.1 million. However, the second position saw some fierce competition between Michigan and New Jersey, with the former narrowly edging out The Garden State.

Although both states had 29.4% of the market share each, Michigan had slightly more online casino revenue, with the difference between them totalling about $100K. For context, Michigan reported $1,923,857,570 while New Jersey posted $1,923,742,057.

The remaining three jurisdiction where online gaming is currently legal shared the spoils for the last three positions. Connecticut, West Virginia and Delaware came fourth, fifth and last, respectively. Cumulatively, these states combined for a total of 8.9% of the market share. If anything, this statistic highlights the disparity between the top three, which control 91.1% of the online casino market share and the bottom three.

Despite finishing as the premier state in terms of gross online revenue, Pennsylvania could not maintain the top spot for average revenue per capita. This metric compares the online revenue of states to their adult, gambling-eligible population. For Pennsylvania, one of the most populous states in the US and the largest one with online gambling, casino revenue averaged $203.41 per person, enough to secure the third position.

Michigan placed second as its $7.9 million adult population translated to an average revenue of $242.70 per person. New Jersey, though coming third in online casino gross receipts ranked first among the big three with a $264.60 per capita revenue. According to the 2022 population estimates of the US Census Bureau, New Jersey has a population of 7,270,434 eligible to gamble.

Sports betting was not as promising as its online gaming counterpart, especially for Michigan. The state ranks outside the top ten rankings for online betting handle generated throughout 2023. Michigan recorded $4.6 billion in betting handle, a lifetime record, representing 4.3% of the market share, but this was barely enough.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania remained consistent in this aspect of the general gambling market, though. In that order, they emerged second and fourth, claiming 10.6% and 6.6% of the market share, respectively.

Even more unfortunate for Michigan is the fact that five of the states in the top ten have not announced their December figures. Arizona, also in the top ten, is yet to release both November and December figures. So, it’s expected that the gap may widen more significantly in the coming weeks.

Michigan also stands in 11th position for online sports betting revenue, despite recording $420.4 million in 2023. Just like with betting handle, Michigan could see a decline to even lower positions when more states post their full revenue figures from the past year.

  Table representing only the top 10 states and Michigan 

** States yet to report complete sports betting handle figures for 2023.