Online Sports Wagering Is About To Come To Michigan

The ruling from the Supreme Court earlier this month that made it possible to legalize sports wagering within any given state is starting to pick up stream in some states. The highest court in the land did not mandate that each state legalize sports wagering, they just stated that any state that wished to do so may do so if they wished at this point. 

Michigan is one of the first states to jump at the opportunity to legalize sports wager in this new context. A bill was approved by the Michigan House in a vote of 68-40 in that Chamber. This particular bill would allow for existing casinos in the state to apply for and obtain licenses to offering gaming online. They would have to pay an eight percent tax on all profits and players would have to be aged twenty-one or older to play. 

The Michigan Gaming Control Board will be the body that legalizes sports wagering statewide, but they seem to be waiting on the elected representatives to have their say and input on the matter before they take any action. They have differed to them because they want to let the people's representatives have a say first. It appears at this time that those representatives have given the go ahead for this plan of action. 

Tribal casinos are included in the bill in Michigan meaning that they can also profit from this new rule and hopefully generate extra revenues that were previously not open to them. At the same time, it should be noted that they did have some objections to the legislation, but lawmakers say that the tribal casinos got about ninety percent of what they wanted out of the new law. 

Interesting, the way that the legislation of the current bill reads the money would be divided up in an interesting way. That is about five percent going to schools, five percent to transportation, fifty-five percent to the city of Detroit, and the remainder to the Internet Gaming Fund. This is a distribution model that may not appeal to all of those who might otherwise support this legislation, but that is what the state of Michigan has decided to set up. 

At this point it is not likely that the legislation will be taken up anytime before the Fall when it comes to the state Senate. They would have to approve it and then pass it on to the Governor for his signature. Although the Gaming Control Board has the ultimate ability to say one way or the other what the legal status of online gambling will be for the state of Michigan, they are not expected to step on any toes in the process and will wait for the legislators to do their part first.