I finally got my banking info squared away for online play in MI. I'm using VIP Preferred for both deposits and withdrawals. At first, VIP Preferred only gave me a credit line of $100 which was worthless for the Welcome Bonuses. I complained and they boosted that up to over $2,000 which is enough to play the bonuses. It appears you don't have to wait 90 days after all if the case goes up to the risk management department. Anyway, so far I played BetRiver's Welcome Bonus and BetMGM's Bonus. BetRivers is the better of the two by far. It only requires 1 time play through and doesn't take very long to do. I actually ended up with more than the $250 bonus. BetMGM bonus takes a lot longer as it requires 15 times play through and blackjack play only counts at 10%. If you are trying for a $100 bonus at BetMGM you need to bet $15,000 and if you are going for the $1,000 bonus you need to bet $150,00 if you are doing it at blackjack and there is a time limit of only 14 days to do this. I did win more than the bonus amount I was trying for at BetMGM. Anyway, any recommendations on which MI online casino I should try next for their welcome bonus?
I'm happy to hear that you've been able to get set up. Also, that you've apparently done okay. Sorry, but I can't make any recommendations. Jonny21 is very knowledgeable regarding this subject and Ken Smith probably is, too. Thanks for your report (and keep them coming). Billy C
This weekend Golden Nugget MI is having a three day promotion. If you deposit $20 or more you get a $20 bonus. Have to bet that 10 times and only 25% counts on blackjack so you need total action of $800. At 0.5% house edge you should still make around $16.
I have found Draftkings to be the best of the online sites. They have a good blackjack game (s17, DAS) and consistently offer promotions like leaderboards, play $10, get $5 free credits on different games, and points for play. Blackjack games have very nice graphics too. They have an interesting promotion where the player who gets the most wins in a row each month in each of their 11 branded Blackjack games gets $10,000 in free credits.
Back to the difficulties in getting the accounts opened and verified. I'm sure the casinos deal with a lot of fraud. This guy opened over 1800 accounts! https://www.njsp.org/news/2021/20210608.shtml
I just posted two more updated lists of what venues are available in Michigan: Sportsbooks: https://www.michigan-online-casinos.com/sportsbooks Poker (only two so far): https://www.michigan-online-casinos.com/list-of-mi-poker-rooms These lists will stay updated as more companies enter the market.
These are the MI online casinos I have played so far for their Welcome Bonus. I listed them from what I thought were the best to worst. 1. Bet Rivers (Only requires 1 time play thru, but doesn't offer anymore blackjack promotions after completed. Only sports betting) 2. Golden Nugget (Blackjack play counts at 25%) 3. Draft Kings (Blackjack play counts at 20%) 4. Bet MGM (Offers breakeven game at best with their weekly bonuses) 5. Four Winds (Offers breakeven game at best with their weekly bonuses) 6. Twin Spires (Not a deposit bonus but a loss rebate. I don't like some of the hanky panky they do) I have made some money at all of these. I made the most money at DraftKings followed by Golden Nugget. They both offer something positive for blackjack players each week. The others aren't worth playing.
I think I should give an explanation of what I mean when I say Twin Spires is doing some hanky panky stuff. First, it is nothing illegal. It is mentioned in there terms and conditions, but they make it hard to get your money out of their online casino. Let me describe what happened to me. I went big on blackjack bets (probably should have played roulette or video poker) and busted out. Okay, so I wanted my loss rebate. My free spins showed up immediately but not my loss rebate. By the way the free spins are not worth much, probably around $15 in total given over 5 days. So I called them and asked where was my free credits for my loss. I was told I had to wait 72 hours. Other casinos give free credits immediately. I waited 72 hours and still no loss rebate credits. The next day I called again after over 80 hours of waiting. This time I got a real nice and helpful gal and she immediately gave me my free credits. I played blackjack with my free credits. Now here is the hanky panky stuff. When you bet your free credits and win, the win money goes to your withdrawable money. However, you withdrawable money is always used first. So if you win a hand of blackjack then the next hand will use your own money to play and not your free credits. In order to get your money out you have to cash out your withdrawable money. It took me three days to get all of my money from my free credits out. Then to add insult to injury you are only allowed to make two withdrawals in a day. However, you have the option of cancelling one of them and then make a bigger withdrawal. This is what I did after the first day. It sure ruins any fun you have playing the game. After a win you have to cash out, but I usually played several hands before I did.
BetMGM refuses to pay $3 million win over "glitch." She should have drawn some money out before it got so large. I wonder if BetMGM is going to refund money to all those who lost money on the game. https://www.newsweek.com/woman-claims-mgm-online-casino-refused-payout-3m-win-glitch-1603273
I find it interesting that this game was available only briefly at BetMGM MI: https://www.michigan-online-casinos.com/game/luck-o-the-roulette but it continues to be available at BetMGM NJ: https://www.new-jersey-online-casinos.com/game/luck-o-the-roulette It is with stories like this where I find my tracking of game inventories quite useful. I hope she gets her money. (Edited July 31 to change link structure)
I have to agree with Jonny21 that DraftKings is the best of the online casino sites in MI. They always have some promotion going and it is pretty easy to win at least something in their leaderboards promotions. In fact, I just finished a blackjack leaderboard where I qualified for $210 in free play. Here are some interesting facts on the revenue from all the online casinos in MI for June. https://www.onlinepokerreport.com/52546/mi-online-gambling-revenue-june-2021/
Evolution has been authorized to provide live dealer casino games here through its Southfield studios starting Thursday morning, the Michigan Gaming Control Board announced on Wednesday. This looks like it will be a game changer. https://www.playmichigan.com/live-dealer-casino-games-michigan-launch-evolution-approved/
I just checked DraftKings and BetMGM sites and they are now offering live dealer games. DraftKings has a welcome bonus each day for the next week for its live dealer games. I got to go and check these out and play a few hands.
Yes, it looks like almost everyone is rolling out the live dealer games in Michigan... https://www.michigan-online-casinos.com/game/live-dealer-blackjack-evolution So far, I'm picking up BetRivers, BetMGM, Golden Nugget, William Hill, and TwinSpires. I don't track DraftKings, but Midwest Player says they have them too. Good news.
I noticed Golden Nugget is now offering a $100 bonus on their live dealer games. However, the bad news is on all the sites I checked the table minimums are high, either $30 or $50 min. Folks in upper Michigan don't have that kind of money to bet that big. Hopefully they will reduce the minimums after the newness wears off. They also offer something called infinite blackjack with lower limits. Don't know much about that game.
Most of the Live Dealer providers offer some version of this under various different names. The basic idea is to get around the glacial slowness of typical multi-player tables by having multiple players independently play the same hand. So, e.g., after you stand, others may continue to hit without affecting your hand's total. Evolution also has another variant of this called Power Blackjack, which has modified BJ rules, and 9s and 10s removed from the decks. You might find it worth a look, if it's available in any of your casinos.
My Michigan TwinSpires link is now active: ---> https://www.michigan-online-casinos.com <--- If you aren't familiar with "risk-free" promos, it pays to play aggressively. Either cash out as a nice winner, or stop for the day when you hit the rebate limit of $500. It's essentially a freeroll. Good luck!
Yowza! William Hill just rebranded to Caesars Sportsbook. To kick off the new branding, then just announced a massive upgrade to their sports welcome offer. Your first sports bet is now risk-free up to $5,000. Nice freeroll! Place your single first wager for any amount up to $5000. If you win, great! If you lose it, you get that same amount as free bet credits in your account. My understanding is that you merely need to use the bet credits, there is no additional wagerthrough needed. This is brand new as of a couple of hours ago, so please read the terms if you do it. You'll find the link on the main page at -----> https://www.michigan-online-casinos.com <---------- If you're in New Jersey, it works there too: https://www.new-jersey-online-casinos.com Last of all... Sorry if you already had a William Hill account, you're not eligible.
