Since 2021, several Michigan online casinos have gone live and many more are expected to in the coming years. It took another two years of planning before MI online casinos would actually go live in the state. Online casinos and sports betting in the state would not be legalized until 2019. It would take nearly another quarter century after 1996 before Michigan's online gambling law would change. All these things were necessary to convince the Michigan legislature and voters to change Michigan gambling laws. However, this was only after federal intervention through national tribal laws, intense competition from Canadian casinos, and pressure from Native American tribes in the state. The Great Lakes State formally legalized retail casino gambling in 1996. Momentum for legalization finally hit a fever point in the mid-90s. This changed slightly in the early 1990s when Native American tribes were allowed to open casinos on tribal lands. Michigan residents had to get their gambling fill across the border at Canadian casinos. In fact, almost all forms of gambling were illegal in Michigan for most of the 20th Century. Online gambling has been illegal for much of Michigan’s history.
As you would expect from a Midwest state, the history of legal Michigan online casinos is not a very long one.
