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Gambling has always been prevalent in the state of Michigan. Monopoly here and now review. It was first legalized in the 1930s, during the famous Great Depression. Since then, it has become a big part of the overall culture of the state, which is especially true for horse racing, as this form of gambling was the first to be legalized and the first to gain popularity.
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Now, almost a century later, online gambling has become the norm of the entire world of gambling for Michiganders, in the same way it has been for players worldwide. Fortunately for the state’s casino players, online casinos are now fully legal, but as the law is still fairly new, there’s a lot a player like you needs to know. Let’s take a look.
Top 5 Michigan Online Casinos
- Located on Leelanau Peninsula—home to miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and award-winning wineries—Leelanau Sands Casino combines the thrill of gaming with the beauty of northern Michigan. Over 350 slot machines and table games await you on the casino floor, while stunning bay views greet you from your relaxing hotel room in the Lodge.
- Michigan is home to some of the best casinos in the nation. From the sleek and modern casinos you’ll find in Detroit to the grandeur of large resort casinos nestled within the picturesque countryside of Upper Michigan, there are gaming destinations in the state that can suit the style of just about anyone.
Here is a list of our top 5 recommended online casino sites to play at for real money from Michigan.
Is Online Gambling Legal in Michigan?
The short answer is yes. Online casinos and online poker games were legalized in the state of Michigan on December 20, 2019. The so-called Lawful Internet Gaming Act, or House Bill No. 4311, has effectively legalized all forms of online gambling, making online casinos fully legal. The only prohibitions in force are that operators can have a single online skin and that the casinos cannot offer multi-state games.
However, as the law is still fairly new, it hasn’t become fully effective yet. In essence, it’s still necessary for the regulators to put the legislation into practice. Then, casino operators need to apply and receive proper licensing for their gambling offers. After that, they need to build up the virtual infrastructure to comply with the state’s laws.
For all these reasons, online gambling is legal in the state, but it hasn’t gone live for players. It is expected that the first online gambling options will become available to Michigan-based players in the second part of 2020.
Additionally, it is currently estimated that online gambling will become fully available to Michigan-based players in 2021.
Naturally, until online casinos become fully available, you can gamble in other ways. At the moment, Michiganders can still play and enjoy off-track betting and online lottery. You can also play in offshore online casinos that unfortunately are not legal, but they are not illegal either. That’s because the state doesn’t prosecute Michigan-based players for using an offshore casino. What’s more, players from Michigan play in these casinos all the time without any problems, be them legal or of any other kind.
Land-Based Casino Options in Michigan
Land-based casinos have been legal in Michigan for a long time and, currently, you have the option to play in a total of 26 casinos — 23 tribal and 3 commercial. There, you can enjoy a wide variety of casino games like slots, table games, and many more.
Naturally, with the legalization of online gambling, all these casinos can apply for licenses to start offering virtual casino games. What’s more, chances for this are very high, because Michigan includes tribal casinos in the state’s casino licensing regulations. However, this is not the case with most of Michigan’s counterparts in the United States. Although they allow online casinos, the majority of other states allow only commercial casinos to apply for online gambling licenses.
By the time operators get licenses for online gambling in Michigan under the 2019 law, they will belong to these land-based casinos. That’s because only existing Michigan casinos can apply for online gambling licenses. As for other operators, the current law doesn’t allow them to apply.
Out of the many land-based casinos, we picked a few that are the best in the state.
Soaring Eagle Casino Resort
Soaring Eagle is both a hotel and a casino, located in the Isabella Indian Reservation near Mount Pleasant. It was fully renovated in 2018 and now offers many table games like roulette, crap, blackjack, poker, and more. Naturally, you can also play on numerous slot machines spread throughout this 200,000 sq. ft complex.
MGM Grand Detroit
The MGM casino belongs to the famous MGM Grand group that owns a total of 13 major properties, including the famous Luxor Las Vegas complex. More importantly, at the MGM Grand casino in Detroit, you can play over 150 table games and 3,500 slots.
FireKeepers Casino
This massive casino and hotel complex is located in the Emmett Charter Township. It’s owned and operated by a Potawatomi tribe. If you ever find yourself in the casino, you’ll be able to play more than 2,900 slots and 76 table games that include baccarat, blackjack, roulette, and many others.
![Upper Upper](https://koa.com/content/campgrounds/durant/photos/36135_27.jpg.axd?cache=yes&crop=auto&width=355&height=229)
Other Gambling Options in Michigan
As we’ve stated in the beginning, gambling is very popular in Michigan, which naturally means that there are other forms of gambling in the state, not only casino games.
Horse racing is still fairly popular in the state; however, nowadays there is only one racetrack called Northville Downs. It offers adults the possibility to gamble on both live and simulcast racing.
The Michigan State Lottery provides a lottery to the state’s players. Many options are available, including instant cash, pull tabs, keno, lottery draws, second-chance games, and scratch cards. On top of that, the state participates in interstate draws like the Mega Millions lottery.
Best Paying Casino In Michigan
In the end, there is also bingo and, most importantly, sports betting that has become legal in 2019, together with online gambling.
The Future of Online Gambling in Michigan
With the latest online gambling law from 2019, we can safely say that the future of online gambling in Michigan is extremely bright. The online infrastructure is still not there, as it takes time for operators to apply and obtain licenses. Still, we can expect a wide range of Michigan-based online casinos to be fully established during 2021.
You can expect operators to quickly jump on the bandwagon, as all of them will want to get established before the competition, so the future of Michigan online gambling is assured.
Summary
As you can see, with the online gambling law from 2019, Michigan became one of the many states in the US that permits online casinos to operate within the state. Players will soon have the chance to enjoy numerous casino games in Michigan-based sites, not only in offshore and land-based casinos.
Thanks to the fact that tribal casinos have a chance to open online casinos, you can expect many online casinos to pop up fairly soon.
FAQ
At this point, only an online lottery is available to Michiganders. However, with online gambling legalized, online sports betting and online casino games will also become available very soon.
You can, as soon as the first online casinos open in the state. For now, you can only enjoy state-run online lotteries or opt to play in offshore online casinos.
Sports betting has already gone live in a handful of land-based casinos. As for online casino games, we can only make predictions. The first online casinos will likely appear in 2020, but the more probable date is somewhere in 2021.
You can, as online poker was legalized in 2019, along with most other online casino games. However, you still have to wait for casinos to start offering online poker.
Any person who is at least 21 years old can gamble online in the state of Michigan.
Now that sports betting became legal in Michigan in 2020, the action at casinos in Michigan is really taking off. Michigan is home to some of the best casinos in the nation.
From the sleek and modern casinos you’ll find in Detroit to the grandeur of large resort casinos nestled within the picturesque countryside of Upper Michigan, there are gaming destinations in the state that can suit the style of just about anyone.
Here are some of the prime gambling venues in Michigan:
1- Firekeepers Casino Hotel
Located in Battle Creek, Michigan, you’ll discover the stylish gaming resort of Firekeepers Casino Hotel.
Owned and operated by the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, this high-end gaming venue is home to a 112,000 square foot gaming floor, a live poker room, bingo room, and over 70 different table games.
With a vast amount of stylized rooms and suites, their Four Diamond AAA Rated hotel has a wide range of restaurants as well as a multipurpose event center.
The casino offers up hundreds of slot machines, crap tables, roulette wheels, poker and poker tournaments, and all of your other favorite card games.
Firekeepers Online Gambling Partnerships
In order to provide the best retail sportsbook experience possible, Firekeepers Casino partnered with Scientific Games Corp. in 2020 as well as online iGaming.
The retail sports betting site will be inside the casino at Dacey’s Taphouse, which will eventually be renamed “Dacey’s Sportsbook.”
This sportsbook will embrace a casual atmosphere unlike the more high-intensity Las Vegas sportsbooks.
They will also offer bettors access to Don Best Sports, a website and app that gives wagerers real-time betting data on odds, lineups, injuries, and game scores.
Firekeepers Poker Room and Table Games
Considered one of the most prestigious in the country, the poker room at Firekeepers regularly has professional tournaments with total prize pools of over a million dollars.
“Poker News” has even designated Firekeepers Poker Room one of the best poker rooms in the country.
The poker room features 26 tables, cell phone charging stations, and free WiFi.
Table games at Firekeepers include baccarat, blackjack, roulette, craps, Mississippi Stud, Pai Gow Poker, Crazy 4 Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em, Let It Ride and 3 Card Poker. They also have bingo tournaments, keno tournaments, and video poker.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, they offer classes that teach craps and on Tuesday and Thursdays, they have courses on roulette. No buy-in is required, so there’s no fear of losing your shirt while you’re learning to play a new game.
Patrons are made to feel most welcome at this casino, and their casino hosts will even be available if you would like a couple of pointers on your game of choice.
Firekeepers Hotel
If you’ve spent a long day leaning over the poker table, the Firekeepers Hotel has comfortable and spacious rooms where you can retire to at the end of the day.
Their rooms, from standard doubles to presidential suites, are designed with a contemporary flair with granite vanities and fireplaces, separate living rooms, and whirlpool baths.
And if you really want to live it up you could book one of their luxury suites with a full kitchen and a grand piano.
After a day of rigorous gaming action, you can make use of their multi-level indoor pool, steam room, sauna, or jacuzzi hot tub.
2- MotorCity Casino Hotel
Local Detroit billionaire, Marian Illitch, owns MotorCity Hotel Casino. This is one of three casinos you can find in Detroit.
Shining brightly amongst the city streets of Detroit is the polished, steel exterior of this impressive hotel and casino.
This high-end hotel and gaming venue offers over 2,700 different slot machines, a poker room, a retail sportsbook, and 60 table games.
MotorCity Online Gambling Partnerships
Like other casinos on this list, MotorCity is in the process of building its own sportsbook in response to sports gambling being legalized in Michigan in 2020. Their sportsbook and online gambling will be provided by FanDuel.
It will be a two-story facility that will feature 67 high-def TVs, 6 betting windows, a display featuring up to the minute scores, 54 betting kiosks, and a VIP area.
With Detroit being the 6th largest gambling market in the U.S, sports betting fans from around the midwest are sure to be arriving at MotorCity in large numbers.
MotorCity Poker Room and Table Games
Open 24 hours a day/7 days a week, their 100,000 square foot gaming floor holds poker tournaments and cash games on a regular basis.
Their 10-table poker room, considered one of the best in Detroit, has No-Limit Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments and cash games.
They also feature Daily High Hand Jackpots and Bad Beat Jackpots and have tournaments 3 days a week that include Bounty and Deepstack games in addition to guaranteed prize pools every month.
Real money slots at MotorCity feature an interactive audio/video system. Players can gamble on the slots using the MYMotorCity app where you can deposit your money, view special offers, and order a drink without having to leave your seat.
They also have an assortment of 40 linked progressive slot games inside their Lightning Link Lounge where you win totals could quickly add up to extra bonuses.
Their table games include unique games such as Progressive 3-Card Poker and many favorites like baccarat, roulette, blackjack, Spanish 21, craps, Mississippi Stud, Pai Gow Poker, and Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em.
MotorCity Hotel
The hotel features Detroit’s only AAA 4 Diamond Award-winning restaurant, Iridescence. Located on the 6th floor, this dining experience includes a splendid menu and excellent views of the city skyline.
There are a number of ultra-modern amenities afforded to guests at the MotorCity Hotel. These include imported bed linens, 24-hour room service, high-speed WiFi, and granite-top desks with ergonomic chairs.
They have 33 spacious suites containing the latest technologies, you will also have access to dry cleaning and laundry services in addition to complimentary valet parking.
At MotorCity’s D.Tour Spa, you’ll be able to choose from massage treatments, facial treatments, steam rooms, thermal whirlpools, rain shower installations, and dry saunas.
3- Four Winds Casino Hotel
Located on the banks of Lake Michigan, you’ll find Four Winds Casino and Hotel in New Buffalo, MI.
Among the trio of casinos owned by the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi, this one is their most prominent.
Their gaming venue measures out at 125,000 square feet and contains more than 48 table games and over 2,600 slot machines.
Four Winds and the Pokagon partnered with Scientific Games(SG) Interactive in order to offer its guests access to the free-play online casino, the Play4Fun Network.
Four Winds will most likely be offering sports betting sometime in May 2020, and will probably add a retail sportsbook at some point as well.
The Casino at Four Winds Buffalo
All of the table games and slots at Four Winds are operated by Bally Technologies which are also the same games featured on Four Wind’s free online platform.
For fans of the one-armed bandits, be sure to be on the lookout for the slot games, Cash Connection, and Buffalo Grand. They respectively have starting jackpots of $400,000 and $500,000.
Of the 48 table games they offer some of the most popular are blackjack, roulette, Let It Ride, craps, Mississippi Stud, 3 Card Poker, baccarat, and Pai Gow Plus.
Be also sure to check their custom Electronic Craps table. This high tech version of craps offers instant payouts and fast and exciting play.
Four Winds Hotel
This upscale, 415-room hotel has all the amenities of a luxury hotel, great service, and a variety of comfortable accommodations.
The hotel features a seasonal pool, a pool bar, a 24-hour fitness center, several retail stores, and a supervised play and entertainment area for kids called Kids Quest.
If you opt to make a reservation for one of the suites, you’ll have access to such amenities as whirlpool baths, panoramic views of New Buffalo’s lush forests, master bathrooms, flatscreen TVs with 5 speaker surround sound, and living rooms.
4- MGM Grand Detroit
Voted 4-Stars in the Forbes Travel Guide, the MGM Grand Detroit is the ultimate in luxury gaming and accommodations.
This 400 room casino and hotel features high-end dining, an expansive entertainment venue, great shopping, and an exclusive, contemporary-style spa.
It originally opened as a hotel only, but in 2005 it opened a 100,000 square foot gaming facility.
Open 24/7, this casino offers over 150 table games, 3,500 slot machines, and weekly poker tournaments.
MGM Grand Online Gambling Partnerships
MGM Resorts has partnered with Roar Digital to bring sports betting and real money online gaming to downtown Detroit. The BetMGM Sports Lounge opened in March 2020.
Here at the Sports Lounge, you’ll be able to watch your favorite sporting event while making wagers on those same games. They have 60 large screen HDTVs, 6 betting counters, and 14 self-service betting kiosks.
If you don’t want to wait in line at one of the counters, you can just settle into one of their stadium recliners and make your wager from the BetMGM mobile App.
Also featured at the Sports Lounge, is a full-service bar where you can order a cocktail or a round of craft beers.
MGM Grand Poker Room and Table Games
Conveniently located adjacent to the casino floor, the stylish poker room offers weekly No-Limit Texas Hold ‘em tournaments as well as Pot-Limit Omaha.
They also offer curbside drink service and have 11 large screen TVs featuring the best of the day’s sporting events.
With over 150 different table games in the casino, you’re sure to find a game that suits your gambling style.
For your convenience, they have added an ultra-modern ventilation system to filter the smoke while you try your hand at such games as blackjack, craps, 4-Card Poker, High Tie Blackjack, roulette, Let It Ride, Mississippi Stud, Spanish 21, and Two-Way Monte.
5- Little River Casino Resort
Owned and operated by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, on the banks of Lake Michigan, you’ll find the luxurious and picturesque Little River Casino & Resort.
This resort is a massive gaming destination that resembles a modern lodge nestled amongst a forested setting.
Their 292-room luxury hotel features amenities such as a number of good restaurants as well as a live entertainment center that presents some of the most famous music acts in the country.
The Casino at Little River
The expansive facility includes a 23,000 square foot gaming floor that features over 1,300 slot and video poker machines and dozens of table games with limits that range from $1 to $5000.
Available games include real money blackjack, roulette, craps, Mississippi Stud, Crazy 4 Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em, Let It Ride, and 3 Card Poker.
Their gaming floor is spacious and comfortable, so you won’t have to squeeze through crowds trying to get to the game of your choice. You can also order beers and cocktails right from your seat at the card table.
Amongst the over 1,400 slots and video poker machines that stand out for fans of the one-armed bandits are Dragon Links, Golden Gecko, Celestial Goddesses, Sword of Destiny, and Casablanca.
Little River Hotel
Their hotel offers quiet and comfortable rooms for you to retire to after a long day.
Every room comes with a giant flat-screen TV, a personal safe, 24-hour room service, a coffee maker, and high-speed WiFi.
Casino In Michigan Map
The hotel also provides a private fitness center, a heated outdoor pool, 2 indoor pools, a spa and salon, a sauna, and a hot tub. You can also book a reservation for one of their luxury suites that come with a separate living area and fireplace.
Conclusion
What are some of the other better casinos in Michigan? Let me know what you think in the comments.