Online Poker In Michigan: 12 Months Later

As the state of Michigan has surpassed one year in the legalized world of online gambling and online poker in particular, the market has made substantial developments since becoming the fifth state in the entire United States with regulated online poker.

Over twelve months have passed since PokerStars was given the green light on January 29, 2021, to offer online poker in Michigan. In becoming the first operator to gain regulatory approval, PokerStars has since released countless promotions, large tournaments, and of course, the renowned MTT series.

Site governance, player authentication, payment clarification, and geolocation have equally been tranquil during the transition. As of February 2022, more than 200 players are contributing to cash game tables, and 100s of others can be found at sit and goes and alternative tournaments.

With that said, the markets in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are showing significantly less action – including the number of players and available operators. The WSOP is the most known American poker brand but isn’t launched due to unforeseen circumstances but will undoubtedly enter a more competitive market that’s expected in 2022.

PokerStars overshadowed the Michigan online poker market in 2021, but with the rise in brands entering the sphere in 2022, stiffer competition is just around the corner.

While it’s no secret that PokerStars MI has been the dominant regulatory online poker room since the laws changed in 2021, it’s challenging to pinpoint precisely by how much.

The MGCB (Michigan Gaming Control Board) combines the overall revenue between its casinos and poker instead of separating the two entities. Therefore, gaining the knowledge of how much poker revenue has been generated thus far is simply inaccessible information.

Michigan online casinos haven’t received many vital moments during 2021. Still, an overall briefing of the year does reveal that most gambling/poker enthusiasts have turned to PokerStars with such a small selection of vendors available.

Michigan Online Poker Crucial Moments of 2021

● January 29, Michigan’s first-ever online poker room is live (PokerStars)
● February 29, The Michigan Championship of Online Poker begins (MICOOP) and receives a lot of traffic
● February 21, Online traffic at PS reaches a new high, with over 500 coexisting cash players
● March 22, Competition arrives when BetMGM launch their poker platform in Michigan
● April 4, PokerStars breaks Michigan records with the most prominent online competition in the state’s history ($500,000 GTD Michigan Classic)
● May 8, PokerStars continues with the MICOOP, this time delivering over $2 million in prizes
● September 10, PokerStars hosts its third MICOOP of the year, another tournament that exceeded $1.5 million in potential winnings
● November 23, BetMGM and four-time WPT champion Darren Elias start ‘The End Boss’ Series.

To gauge an overall reading on PokerStar’s success in Michigan is challenging in multiple facets. Not just because of its blended revenue release alongside casino figures, but also because they’ve had little to no competition in the field of online poker, so there isn’t much comparable data to go by.

PokerStars became a de facto monopoly with a time advantage over rival operators for over two months. This system is where multiple product suppliers can compete, but the market is utterly dominated by one that the alternative options show minor significance. This lasted until BetMGM PokerStars entered the market in March 2021.

However, this small but significant window of time had allowed PokerStars to authorize a robust foundation in the marketplace. Michigan locals were left without the pleasure of online poker rooms for nine years and quickly jumped back into virtual action.

Following a week of PokerStars Michigan being live, the site averaged over 400 coexistent players, which became the highest number of any poker website in the United States.

In addition, these numbers remained consistent for over four months in total – four of which followed the launch of BetMGM. Website traffic reached higher than 500 in February and dropped below 400 before April 16, 2021.

Michigan Championship of Online Poker

Hats off to the marketing and operations team at PokerStars because introducing its already popular ‘COOP’ series to the Michigan customer base (MICOOP) had considerably impacted traffic numbers.

The success of MICOOP was unexpected, so much so that PokerStars had to raise the tournament’s prize money on multiple occasions. For example, a $300 buy-in for the main event was initially set for a $125,000 prize pool but was later raised to $200,000. We cannot measure complete success, but the numbers alone surpassed any other COOP.

“We are heading into the final stretch of what has been a fantastic run in Michigan where we have had thousands of entries and record prize pools,” commented the PokerStars Associate Director, Group Public Relations, Rebecca McAdam Willets, at the time of success last year. “We are thrilled to increase the value on offer to our players competing in the main event.”

The initial pool of $1m was exceeded by more than 50%, delivering $2.2m in prizes. Then, a mere two months later, PokerStars hosted MISCOOP to prove its debut tournament wasn’t an accident.

Heading into the summer months of 2021 did see a slight decline in PokerStars’ game numbers, which had dipped to an average of 200 coexisting players. Still, their only viable competitor in BetMGM wasn’t even close, with just 70 coexisting players. Since this period, the statistics have steadily lingered.

The Online Poker Space in Michigan, 2022

Despite focusing on keeping their current consumer base pleased with the service, PokerStars is expected to receive much tougher market competition in 2022.

While BetMGM continues to build their poker brand with WPT champion Darren Elias, the highly anticipated debut of WSOP Michigan (World Series of Poker) isn’t far away. WSOP has been tipped for its Michigan debut several times, but it’s almost certain a 2022 launch is imminent.

Overall, 2021 was somewhat peaceful in terms of the online poker market. Of course, we’re only two months into the year, but we can almost guarantee the online poker space is fixing up to become significantly more active in the months ahead.

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