Online sports betting in Michigan will likely wait until 2021

Online sports betting in Michigan is not expected to become available until 2021, the state’s regulatory agency said Wednesday.

Mary Kay Bean, a spokesperson for the Michigan Gaming Control Board, said it will take about a year to write and finish the rules for online gambling, daily fantasy sports sites and sports betting, after a bill allowing them was signed into law last month, The Associated Press reported.

Detroit’s three commercial casinos and the state’s 24 tribal casinos will need to obtain mobile sports bettor operating licenses for the online gambling. But the agency’s goal is to allow onsite sports betting to be available in the spring.

“We are at a very early stage of this process,” Bean said, according to the AP. “The agency must establish several sets of administrative rules, which pass through many levels of review. The timing of implementation depends not only on our agency but also on decisions other departments, agencies and the Legislature make along the way.”

MGM Grand Detroit has prepared for the update by opening a $6 million sports bar, which will have betting windows and self-service kiosks once approved. But Detroit won’t be the only place it will be available.

“We view sports betting as another nice entity that will drive more people to our property,” Mike Bean, the CEO of Saginaw Chippewa Gaming Enterprises with locations in Mount Pleasant and Standish, said, according to the news wire. “Our biggest question right now is when is it all going to be ready?”

Experts have said 90 percent of sports gambling in the country will be conducted over mobile phones and the internet in the next five to 10 years, according to the AP.