Online and sports betting bill advances in Michigan
A House committee has advanced a bill that would legalise both online betting and sports betting in Michigan.
US.- While the online and sports betting markets in the US are in a process of constant growth, there are some states that still haven’t legalised the segments. Michigan is still pushing for a legal market, and it seems as though it is a step closer, as a House committee advanced this week the bill that would favour the legislation.
The Ways and Means Committee of the Michigan House passed the bill by a vote of 10-1. The Lawful Sports Betting Act has been through a number of amendments that increases the tax rates for both online and sports betting.
State Representative Wendell Byrd said: “They bet on Michigan, Michigan State… why don’t we get some revenue out of it?”
State Representative Brant Iden, who is pushing for the bill, said: “We could go up to $100-$150 million on this someday, five years out potentially, but it has to be combined. The sports and the internet piece have to go together for major revenue. Sports alone, it’s going to be much smaller.”
“This is new revenue to the state of Michigan. Again, the argument that some have made, and I do not agree with it, is this will pull from I-lottery, this will not pull money from I-lottery at the end of the day. We haven’t seen that in Pennsylvania, it just has not been occurring. In fact in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, that more money keeps coming in month after month. In fact, New Jersey is growing revenues rivalling that of Nevada,” Iden said.
The proposed changes
The proposed changes include an increase in online and sports betting tax rates. These would be higher than the 8% rate proposed in the initial legislation. However, they would be lower than the 40% for online gaming and 15% for sports betting that Governor Gretchen Whitmer had proposed. Sports betting’s tax rate would be 8.75% at the 23 tribal casinos and 12% at the three Detroit casinos. Online gaming’s tax rate would be from 4% to 23% based on revenue.
