MANISTEE — The Little River Casino Resort has partnered with a Chicago-based online gaming operator to run a sportsbook inside the Northern Michigan casino.
The relationship with Chicago-based Rush Street Interactive LLC will start with the firm operating a retail sportsbook inside the casino, located north of Manistee at the intersection of U.S. 31 and M-22. The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians expects to open in-casino sports betting to guests starting early in the third quarter, according to a statement.
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After that initial launch and once the Michigan Gaming Control Board finalizes its rules, the partners then plan to offer co-branded online sports betting and online casino gaming.
Founded in 2012, Rush Street Interactive operates sportsbooks inside casinos in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, and offers online sportsbooks in Colorado, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
The company also is the sportsbook partner for the Philadelphia Flyers NHL team.
In a statement, Rush Street Interactive President Richard Schwartz praised the tribe’s “outstanding reputation” in the gaming industry.
“Being only a lakeshore away in Chicago, the Rush Street Interactive team views this partnership as an opportunity to help bring a property-wide lift to Little River Casino Resort — from slots to tables to restaurants — thanks to the tremendous and growing popularity of sports wagering,” Schwartz said in a statement.
Little River Casino has about 1,350 slot machines and 26 table games and operates on a campus that includes a 292-room hotel, RV park, and event and conference center.
Andrew Gentile, general manager of Little River Casino Resort, cited Rush Street Interactive’s “successful track record” with gaming in other states in opting to move ahead with the partnership.
“Rush Street’s ability to provide a road map of how they’ve enabled other land-based casinos to operate market-leading sportsbooks kept us from having to reinvent the wheel,” Gentile said in a statement.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in December 2019 signed into law a bill legalizing sports betting and online gaming in Michigan. In the months since, tribes from across the state have been inking partnerships with national and international gaming brands around operating their sportsbooks and iGaming platforms.
Earlier this month, Bay Mills Indian Community in the eastern Upper Peninsula signed a partnership with Boston-based DraftKings Inc. to operate the tribe’s sportsbook at Bay Mills Resort & Casino in Brimley.
Similar to the deal Little River Casino signed with Rush Street Interactive, Bay Mills Indian Community will also look to expand into online sports betting with DraftKings once the state rules allow it.
“Expanding on what entertainment options we can offer at Michigan’s longest operating gaming facility is always our goal,” Bryan Newland, Tribal Chairman for the Bay Mills Indian Community, said in a statement. “Our new on-site DraftKings Sportsbook will be one more great reason for Michiganders to vacation with us in the Upper Peninsula.”
Elsewhere in West Michigan, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi previously partnered with Las Vegas-based Scientific Games Corp. for sports betting and online gaming via FireKeepers Casino near Battle Creek, while the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, known as the Gun Lake Tribe, signed a similar agreement with Parx Casino of Pennsylvania.
Mary Kay Bean, a spokesperson from the Michigan Gaming Control Board, told MiBiz for a report earlier this month that the agency expected to finalize its rules for online gaming and online sports betting by early 2021, “but it could happen by late this year if all goes well during the rulemaking process.”
Rush Street Interactive (RSI) has signed a new sports betting deal with the Little River Casino Resort in Michigan, operated by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Based on the partnership agreement, RSI will provide retail and online sports betting, plus online casino gaming.
Michigan started offering retail sports betting in March, but the new industry was disrupted just days later by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, the Gaming Control Board opened the application process for online gaming supplier licensing. The online gaming industry in the state is expected to begin next year.
RSI will provide sports betting services via a new retail sportsbook located in the casino. The facility should open in the third quarter of this year. Online sports betting would follow later, along with online casino gaming, as regulations allow.
kept us from having to reinvent the wheel”
Andrew Gentile, the general manager of Little River Casino Resort, stated that Rush Street Interactive’s successful track record as a provider of retail sportsbooks in other states like Illinois and Pennsylvania is what led the company to choose RSI as its partner.
“Rush Street’s ability to provide a road map of how they’ve enabled other land-based casinos to operate market-leading sportsbooks kept us from having to reinvent the wheel,” Gentile said.
Richard Schwartz, the president of Rush Street Interactive, commented as well, stating that the RSI team sees this new partnership as an opportunity to give a lift to the property with the growing popularity of sports betting.
The RSI and Little River Casino Resort venture is one of two sports betting deals to culminate in Michigan this month. In early June, DraftKings announced a new sports betting partnership with Bay Mills Resort & Casino. DraftKings will provide mobile and retail sports betting for the venue.
Michigan marks the eighth mobile market and seventh retail sports betting market for DraftKings. The company has brick-and-mortar sportsbook agreements in Colorado, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York, in addition to Michigan.