The Michigan bills aiming to increase gambling tax, introduced by Senators Sam Singh and Jeremy Moss, have officially expired as we enter 2025. The bills won’t be acted upon unless reintroduced in the new year. However, with or without the bills, the Wolverine State remains one of the most tax-friendly states for casinos and sportsbooks.
The Senate Bills (1193 and 1194) proposed a modest tax increase of 0.1%, from the current 8.4% to 8.5%. This may sound like a minor adjustment, but with Michigan gambling revenue breaking records year-on-year, the increase would translate into a significant sum.
Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, the bills sought to address the imbalance in tax allocation, reducing the Internet Gaming Fund’s share by 1.5% and increasing Detroit services’ share by 1% while raising the agriculture fund’s cap from 5% to 5.5%.
iGaming Tax Allocation in Michigan
However, as 2024 was coming to a close, no one acted upon the proposals. They expired on January 1st, 2025, leaving the current state of tax affairs intact.
As things stand, 65% of the tax funds go to the Internet Gaming Fund, Detroit services take up 30%, while the Michigan Agriculture Equine Industry Development Fund takes 5%, capped at $3 million.
The Bills
The two senators proposed the bills in early December last year. Their idea didn’t ruffle many feathers, unlike in Louisiana, for instance, where an unsuccessful bill proposed to hike taxes from 15% to 51%. Or Ohio, where the taxes went from 10% to 20% overnight.
No, Senators Sam Singh and Jeremy Moss proposed a more modest model whereby taxes would increase according to revenue tiers for all 15 legal operators in the state.
There would have been five tiers in total. This includes operators with revenues under $4 million and whose tax would range from 20% to 21%. At the top end of the table are revenues of over $12 million, whose taxes would rise from 28% to 29%.
2024 Results
The tax hikes may not have made a huge difference, but they would be far from having an effect considering the revenue record-breaking numbers.
Namely, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), the Michigan gambling revenue for 2024 reached an all-time high of $2.9 billion, surpassing the previous record year by 23.8% and more than doubling the revenue from the pilot year of legal online gambling.
iGaming alone broke the $2 billion mark in 2024 ($2.4 billion) in casino revenue, which is almost double what land-based operators generated during the same period.
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