Michigan Online Casino Revenue Barely Misses $300 Million For January

The Michigan Gaming Control Board reported $298.3 million in gross online casino revenue for January on Thursday, narrowly missing back-to-back months with $300 million in operator winnings.

The still-new presence of Hard Rock in the Wolverine State again goosed revenue figures higher, with January’s total the second highest in state history and 20.2% better than the opening month of 2025. The figure was 5.5% off December’s record of $315.8 million, fueled by many bettors taking advantage of introductory offers that came with Hard Rock’s launch.

For the second straight year, almost every operator is deducting less of their promotional spend from gross revenue. This year, the 15 platforms are permitted to deduct 4% of their spend against gross revenue compared to 6% in 2025. Soaring Eagle had its deductions reduced from 10% to 6%.

The $286.2 million in adjusted gross revenue was up 22.8% from January 2025, and state tax revenue for the month totaled $54.6 million. The city of Detroit saw an inflow of $13.1 million into its coffers, and disbursements for tribes was just over $7 million.

FanDuel picks up where it left off

FanDuel Casino closed 2025 by putting daylight between itself and BetMGM for revenue. The digital juggernaut generated $25 million more in winnings over the final three months of the year and led all operators with $817.1 million in gross revenue.

FanDuel maintained most of that gap in January, as its $73.3 million was $7.5 million better than BetMGM‘s $65.8 million. FanDuel’s 16.6% year-over-year growth takes on added heft since BetMGM’s year-over-year revenue was down 0.9% from the start of 2025.

The other Detroit-based online platform, Penn National’s Greektown Casino, topped $9 million for the third time in its history — all in the last four months. That represented a 43.9% surge compared to last year.

The gains by FanDuel operating out of MotorCity Casino and Penn contributed to a 9.3% year-over-year rise in Detroit-based gross iGaming revenue to $148.2 million. Though short of December’s $152.4 million windfall, it marked the first time the trio of operators combined for $300 million in winnings in back-to-back months.

Hard Rock cools off some in month two

Hard Rock’s second month of business in Michigan saw what could be called an expected falloff given it launched at the start of the month and bettors likely churned through their promotional offers and goodies throughout December.

Still, Hard Rock had enough to edge BetRivers for fourth in gross revenue with $23.1 million. It was a 35.2% decline from December, but the Seminole Tribe’s first two months operating through Island & Resort Casino based in Hannahville has accounted for 65% of its total iGaming revenue.

BetRivers rounded out the top five in strong fashion by surpassing $22 million in gross winnings for the third month in a row, reporting gains of 36.7% compared to January 2025. The two percentage points less in deductions contributed to an all-time high for monthly AGR at $21.2 million.

DraftKings rounded out the top three for overall operator revenue and narrowly set another monthly all-time high at $45.5 million. That was nearly $110,000 better than December’s short-lived standard and paced all tribal-based platforms. It was also up 7.7% from January 2025’s then-record $42.2 million.

Fanatics Casino was the only other operator to claim a gross revenue record for the month, pushing its best total to $17.6 million. That was more than double its $7.8 million haul from the previous January and close to $348,000 than its previous high established last November.

Caesars Palace made a strong run at its record $17.7 million revenue total from July but came approximately $430,000 short. The $17.2 million won still represented a 7.1% increase from the first month of 2025 and pushed Caesars’ all-time gross revenue total in Michigan above $500 million.