{"id":121498,"date":"2019-12-04T13:55:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T21:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=121498"},"modified":"2019-12-04T14:47:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T22:47:43","slug":"tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Tribes Ready to Get Behind Sports Betting, Governor Whitmer Not So Sure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michigan\u2019s tribal operators are broadly supportive of sports betting in the state, at least according to State Rep. Brandt Iden \u00a0(R-Oshtemo Township). Iden is pushing legislation to legalize the market \u2013 but is Governor Gretchen Whitmer prepared to play ball?<\/p>\n

\"Michigan
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is now negotiating over sports betting and online gaming taxation. But it\u2019s unclear whether she is prepared to sign off on any legislation that ultimately lands on her desk. (Image: Riley Beggin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Part of Iden\u2019s task in preparing the ground for his bill has been to unite the state\u2019s 23 tribal casinos behind it, a group notoriously mistrusting of state gambling expansion.<\/p>\n

If the legislation displeased the tribes, they could threaten to withhold revenue share payments to the state on the grounds their gaming exclusivity, as set out in their compacts, was being violated. That would effectively kill the bill in the legislature.<\/p>\n

The tribes paid $53.4 million to the state in 2018, which eclipses the $16 million to\u00a0$20 million in tax revenues expected from sports betting.<\/p>\n

Iden told The Detroit Free Press<\/em> this week that the tribes were on board provided they were on a level playing field with the state\u2019s commercial casinos from the get-go.<\/p>\n

This highlights the need for tribal operators to be able to partner with international sports betting providers. That’s so they are not at an immediate technological disadvantage to gaming giants like MGM, which operates the MGM Grand Detroit.<\/p>\n

Fears for the Lottery<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But tribal contributions are just one concern for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer\u2019s administration, which is worried that sports betting and online gaming, which is part of Iden\u2019s gaming expansion package, along with daily fantasy sports, could cannibalize lottery sales.<\/p>\n

Michigan\u2019s lottery has been a success story, generating more than $250 million in proceeds since its launch for the state\u2019s School Aid Fund.<\/p>\n

Whitmer vetoed an online gaming bill passed by lawmakers last year, citing the need to protect lottery revenues.<\/p>\n

\n

In June, the governor released a state Treasury report that demanded almost double the taxes and licensing fees for online gaming and sports betting that Iden had suggested in his draft legislation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It also requested that online slots be removed from any future online gaming market because they\u2019re too close to some of the lottery\u2019s digital offerings.<\/p>\n

Back at the Table<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Iden felt these demands would be untenable for prospective operators and other stakeholders, but that a compromise could be reached. But he was frustrated by the Whitmer administration\u2019s refusal<\/a> to sit around a negotiating table to thrash out an answer.<\/p>\n

The bill that was eventually passed in the state House<\/a> in October raised the tax rates to 8.75 percent for tribal casinos and\u00a012 percent\u00a0<\/strong>for commercial casinos, way off the 15 percent and 18.25 percent demanded by the Treasury report.<\/p>\n

Now that the bills are with the state Senate, Whitmer has reportedly returned to the negotiating table, but her reservations linger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan\u2019s tribal operators are broadly supportive of sports betting in the state, at least according to State Rep. Brandt Iden \u00a0(R-Oshtemo Township). Iden is pushing legislation to legalize the market \u2013 but is Governor Gretchen Whitmer prepared to play ball? Part of Iden\u2019s task in preparing the ground for his bill has been to unite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":121499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1074,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTribal Casinos Ready to Get Behind Michigan Sports Betting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tribal casino operators in the Wolverine State are largely supporting Michigan sports betting, but Governor Gretchen Whitmer has reservations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tribal Casinos Ready to Get Behind Michigan Sports Betting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tribal casino operators in the Wolverine State are largely supporting Michigan sports betting, but Governor Gretchen Whitmer has reservations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-04T21:55:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-04T22:47:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/whitmer-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"856\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/\",\"name\":\"Tribal Casinos Ready to Get Behind Michigan Sports Betting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/whitmer-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-04T21:55:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-04T22:47:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Tribal casino operators in the Wolverine State are largely supporting Michigan sports betting, but Governor Gretchen Whitmer has reservations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/tribal-casinos-ready-to-get-behind-michigan-sports-betting\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/whitmer-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/whitmer-4.jpg\",\"width\":1120,\"height\":856,\"caption\":\"Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is now negotiating over sports betting and online gaming taxation but whether it\u2019s unclear whether she is prepared to sign related bills passed by the legislature. 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