$16.3 Million Wagered On Sports Betting At Detroit Casinos In August As Summer Slowdown Wears On

After tallying the lowest amount of monthly handle of 2021 in July, retail sports betting at Detroit casinos dropped again in August, falling 10.9% to $16.3 million wagered for the month.

If there’s a silver lining: It should all go up from here.

Preseason NFL football (and even a touch of regular-season college football) pushed along the month of Michigan sports betting, which should rise by a considerable margin in September with football in full swing. The Tokyo Olympics factored in a bit for July and August as a boost, though Olympics betting did not really move the needle much for the industry overall.

Greektown Casino’s Barstool Sportsbook takes more than half of Detroit sports bets in August

Barstool Sportsbook at Greektown Casino led the way for August sports betting in Detroit, taking $8.8 million in wagers, good for a 54.0% market share. BetMGM Sportsbook at MGM Grand Detroit was second at $4.3 million (26.5% share), and FanDuel Sportsbook at MotorCity Casino was third ($3.2 million, 19.4% share).

Licensee	Retail Handle	Revenue (GGR)	Promos	State Tax	Local Tax
Greektown	$8,796,603	$565,432	$0	$21,373	$26,123
MGM Grand	$4,329,630	$850,474	$0	$32,203	$39,359
MotorCity	$3,161,937	$232,675	$0	$8,795	$10,750
Total	$16,288,170	$1,648,581	$0	$62,371	$76,231

This was the second straight month that Greektown comfortably led the Detroit sports betting field. In July, Barstool at Greektown led the way with a 46.9% market share. Those totals are huge percentages in what has been a competitive Michigan retail market.

An interesting takeaway from the numbers: MGM Grand had a strong 19.6% hold on sports bets in August after keeping just 2.6% of bets in July. Meanwhile, MotorCity held 7.4% of sports bets in August, and Greektown had a 6.4% hold.

Detroit casinos did not require masks this summer, unlike a growing amount of their Michigan tribal casino counterparts.

For August, sports betting in Detroit contributed $76,231 in taxes to the city and $62,371 to the state, bringing the 2021 totals to $720,579 for the city and $589,565 for the state.

The totals from the Michigan Gaming Control Board do not include sports betting wagers made at tribal casinos across the state. There is no mandate to release their retail figures.

August online sports betting numbers should arrive in the coming days. Through July, $1.69 billion had been wagered on sports online in Michigan since the Jan. 22 launch.

MGM Grand still leads overall casino revenue

The Detroit casinos reported $112.2 million in overall casino revenue, up 61.7% from last August, which occurred during the initial thrust of the coronavirus pandemic. August 2021 was down 6.4% from $119.8 million in August 2019.

MGM Grand reported $52.4 million of monthly gaming revenue, good for a 47% market share. MotorCity generated $36.5 million in revenue (32%), and Greektown, $23.4 million (21%).