Rush Street gets Michigan access via the Little River Casino

Rush Street Interactive gaming has made its move into Michigan via a deal with the Little River Casino.

Rush Street Interactive, a leading sportsbook, and online gaming operator has announced that it has signed an agreement with a Michigan tribal casino to provide a retail sportsbook and MI online casino. Rush Street, based in Chicago, has chosen to partner up with the Little River Casino Resort to be the sports betting service provider for its new retail sportsbook. The partnership with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians will see Rush Street operate a retail sportsbook which is expected to open later this year.

The opening of the sportsbook will coincide with the beginning of the NFL regular season. All being well with the current Coronavirus crisis, college football teams will start their season on Labor Day Weekend. The NFL season will kick off the following weekend.

Michigan will be the fifth state in which Rush Street operates a retail sportsbook. This follows the company opening a BetRivers sportsbook at the Rivers Des Plaines casino close to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The other states in Rush Street’s portfolio include Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Rush Street has made a point upon the announcement to declare themselves ‘excited’ at the prospect of launching the first online sportsbook in their home state. They were also keen to stress the timing works perfectly as American sports are making plans to return to action. The NBA has announced plans to restart at Disneyworld, with the NHL and NBA also looking to restart soon.

Online Betting Part of Deal

Online sports betting has been approved in Michigan, but it won’t be active until next year. Rush Street has revealed that as part of the agreement with Little River, there will be a mobile app co-branded with Rush Street’s BetRivers.com.

This dedicated mobile app will be available to Michigan residents once the launch date for state mobile wagering has been agreed upon. Rush Street already has considerable experience in operating mobile sports betting apps in Illinois, Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

The BetRivers Illinois app was launched last week following Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order waiving in-person registration for sports betting apps due to land-based casinos remaining shut. When mobile betting officially gets the green light to go live, bettors can register with the sportsbook online.

BetRivers Reveals Illinois Opening Weekend Results

Rush Street has revealed how BetRivers.com fared in its opening weekend of activity in Illinois. The Premier League resumed last Wednesday, albeit behind closed doors, joining LaLiga in Spain and Italy’s Serie A in restarting their seasons. European soccer accounted for 43 percent of the handle wagered on the sports betting app. This translated to soccer, holding a 37% share of total bets placed.

Golf saw the most betting action of any sport with the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Tournament seeing a lot of wagers. The event, which was spread across four days, accounted for approximately 36% of all bets and 22% of the betting handle. Another contributor was UFC. Last Saturday’s fight night contained a main heavyweight event featuring Curtis Blaydes and Alex Volkov. The fight accounted for 18% of total bets placed on the BetRivers app.

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