The Michigan Gaming Control Board has held a meeting on proposed sports betting regulations for the state, following a public consultation on the rules.
The regulations will now be submitted to the Michigan Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules and the Legislative Service Bureau for final review.
The board received feedback from stakeholders and the general public on the rules and said it will now consider these comments, make some changes that were proposed and then submit the rules to the relevant offices “in the next several days”.
The regulator then expects the Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules to submit these to the Michigan Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in October. There, they will be considered for at least 15 days before coming into effect, unless this period is waived.
Online betting and gaming will then be permitted to go live after at least one tribal casino and at least one of the state’s three commercial casinos is granted a license. The state opened its licensing process in July.
Richard S. Kalm, executive director of the Gaming Control Board, said he expects online betting and gaming to launch by “late fall”.
The launch was initially planned for early 2021, but the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic prompted efforts to accelerate the process, following disruption to the state’s land-based gaming sector.
Retail sports betting has already launched in the state at both land-based and tribal casinos.
Today (24 September) William Hill launched retail sports betting at Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel and Leelanau Sands Casino in the Northern region of the state in partnership with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians after agreeing the partnership in February.