Michigan is an extremely liberal state when it comes to gambling. Horse racing dates back to the Great Depression. A state lottery and charitable gaming were added in the 1970s. Charities may offer more than typical bingo games. This includes casino and poker nights. Tribal casinos opened in the 1990s.

Voters approved Detroit casinos in 1997 to recapture money going to tribes and across the U.S. border in Windsor. Casino Locations: Detroit, Christmas, Wayland Township, Standish, Baraga, New Buffalo, Battle Creek, Dowagiac, Brimley, Sault St. Marie, Petoskey, Mackinaw City, Williamsburg, Watersmeet, Mt. Pleasant, Lansing, Suttons Bay, Hessel, St. Ignace, Manistee, Marquette, Harris, Fruitport, Vanderbilt, Manistique, and Hartford.

The Wolverine State is one of twelve states in the US that permit 18+ casinos and in this guide, we delve into Michigan 18+ casinos, MI gambling laws, the state’s minimum gambling age, and various gambling laws. While the legal gambling age in Michigan is eighteen, commercial casinos require players to be at least twenty-one. Sun Cruz Casino Ship in Little River, South Carolina is a 600 passenger ship with 375 slot machines, 22 table games poker and buffet. Wonderful casino cruise ship which creates the fun found on a major cruise ship. This will be the best $10 you ever spent. Address Sun Cruz Casino 99705 Mineola Ave Little River, South Carolina 29566. Pursuant to applicable law, individuals under the age of 18 are not eligible to gamble at Little River Casino Resort. With the exception of available employment opportunities, the Little River Casino Resort does not knowingly solicit or collect information from any individuals under the age of 18. Little River Casino Resort closed voluntarily on 22 November. The shutdown will last until 9 December. The casino’s management said the decision to shut the venue down was to help curb the spread of the COVID-19. “We are supportive of our leaders and the healthcare offici. Legal gambling ages across the US vary, with states setting the minimum age at either 18 or 21. This can however change depending on the type of gambling, as well as if you're playing in a Native.

Paying Gambling Taxes in Michigan

OnlineUnitedStatesCasinos has gathered everything you need to know about paying gambling taxes. With our exclusive Gambling Taxes Guide, you can learn how to report your gambling winnings and deduct losses. Get helpful tips straight from a Certified Public Accountant.

Guide to Michigan Casinos Map

• Greektown
• MotorCity
• MGM Grand
• Firekeepers
• Little River Casino

• Number of B&M Casinos: 22
• Number of Poker Rooms: 37
• Number of Indian Casinos: 19

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Types of Online Gambling Allowed in Michigan

There are two types of online gambling that are legal in Michigan. Off-track betting is permitted through TVG and XpressBet. Only horses may be wagered through websites and mobile apps. Greyhound bets are not permitted.

The other form of legal online gambling in Michigan is through the state lottery. Lotto tickets are sold on the state’s website. This includes Fantasy 5, Lotto 47, Powerball, and Mega Millions. There are instant games that resemble pulls on a slot machine. There is also a real money keno game that is the site’s most popular feature.

The Michigan Gaming Control Boarddeclared daily fantasy sports to be illegal in the state. This did not stop the sites from continuing to operate there. DraftKings and FanDuel are among the sites that accept players from Michigan.

Types of Live Gambling Allowed in Michigan

Horse racing is the oldest form of regulated gambling in Michigan. There are four racetracks in Michigan. Live dates are declining with each year as the industry contracts. Each track offers a race book.

Charities may spread several forms of gambling for fundraising purposes. This includes bingo, raffles, casino nights and poker tournaments. Lottery tickets may be purchased at retailers.

There are nearly two-dozen Michigan casinos. Most are on Native American land. Three are in Detroit. Permitted games include slots, video poker, live poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, and house-banked poker games.

Michigan Gambling Laws

Michigan permits a variety of gambling, but it also has strict penalties for those that do not follow them. There are 21 gambling crimes that are misdemeanors. There are eight felonies related to illegal gambling. Games of skill are still considered gambling in Michigan if played for money and not expressly permitted under state law.
The state licenses racetracks to offer horse racing but not greyhound events. Racebooks and mobile apps are permitted to accept action on races that occur out of state.

The Michigan Lottery is the only entity permitted to operate games of chance throughout the state. It is permitted to also offer these games over the Internet.

Michigan casinos are only permitted on reservations or in the city limits of Detroit. The state takes 24 percent of the net win from Detroit casinos. This was raised from 18 percent in 2004. Tribal casinos do not pay taxes to the state. All games that would be found in the traditional casino are legal. This includes slots, video poker, electronic table games, live poker, craps, roulette, blackjack and any card game deemed legal by the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

The minimum age to gamble in Michigan is 18 years for lotteries, charitable gambling, and horse racing. Michigan casinos may permit 18-year-olds if there is no alcohol served. Otherwise, the minimum age is 21 years.

To learn about online casino laws in other states, visit our US States Casinos page.

Where to Gamble in Michigan

There are more than 20 charity poker rooms in Michigan. There are also thousands of lottery retailers.

Michigan Casinos and Locations

Little River Casino Age To Gamble Real Money

There are two racetracks in Michigan that operate in 2016:

Michigan Gambling History

The Racing Act of 1933 brought legalized gambling to Michigan. This created the Office of Racing Commissioner and pari-mutuel pools for horseracing. Horseracing peaked in the mid-1900’s. It began a decline after tribal casinos started to open in the 1990’s. There are just three racetracks that hold live races each year while a fourth one remains in limbo.

Voters approved a state lottery on May 16, 1972. The first scratch-off ticket was sold on October 7, 1975. The first lotto ticket was sold for a Pick 3 drawing on June 6, 1977. Michigan joined interstate lotto pools on June 11, 1996. Pull tabs and keno games were installed at bars in 2003. The Michigan Lottery launched internet games in 2014. This includes the sale of lotto drawing tickets. There are also instant games that mimic slots and a video keno game available on the Michigan Lottery website.

Act 382 was passed in 1972. It permitted charities to spread games of chance to raise funds for nonprofit organizations. Bingo, raffles and other drawings. Casino-style gaming was added to charity laws in 2007.

The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe opened the first reservation casino in Mt. Pleasant in 1993. Gaming eventually expanded to more than a dozen tribes in 20 locations. In November 1996, voters approved the expansion of gambling to Detroit. Three Michigan casinos operate there today. The original tax rate for Detroit casinos was 18 percent. It was raised to 24 percent in 2004.Michigan enacted a smoking ban on May 1, 2010. The law exempts Detroit casinos. This was done because state smoking bans do not apply to reservations and would have left Detroit casinos at a competitive disadvantage.

Michigan Gambling FAQ

Yes. It has been since 1933.

Hazel Park and Northville Downs offer live horse racing and race books in Michigan. Sports Creek has been permanently shut down.

They are not, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board. This has not stopped sites from accepting Michigan players.

Age To Gamble At Little River Casino

Charity poker rooms, reservation casinos and the ones in Detroit all offer legal poker rooms.

Slots, video poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Pai Gow Poker, baccarat and live poker are among the approved games in Michigan casinos.

Michigan casinos are exempted from the statewide smoking ban.

The only forms of online gambling legal are off-track betting and lottery games.

Video keno, instant scratch-off tickets, and lotto drawings are sold by the Michigan Lottery on its website.

The minimum age for lotteries, charity gaming, and horseracing is 18. Casinos that do not serve alcohol may permit 18-year-olds. Casinos with alcohol must limit players to those 21 years of age or older.

The SunCruz Aquasino is a 220 foot long, 600 passenger, 5 hour gambling cruise ship based in Little River, South Carolina. The SunCruz Aquasino offered 'Cruises to Nowhere,' legally transporting passengers into international waters beyond federal and state gambling laws. SunCruz Aquasino offers classic table games such as blackjack and craps, as well as a live poker room and slot machines.

History[edit]

SunCruz was founded by multimillionaire Konstantinos 'Gus' Boulis (who also founded the Miami Subs sandwich shop franchise). Boulis purchased eleven luxury yachts which he remodeled into casinos. These would conduct 'Cruises to Nowhere', consisting of a three-mile cruise from the Florida coast into what was then considered international waters.^[1] While in international waters, passengers could gamble on poker, blackjack and slot machines. Boulis named the fleet the SunCruz Casino line. By the time of its sale in 2000, SunCruz was earning tens of millions of dollars of profits annually, and had over 2,000 employees.

In September 2007, SunCruz discontinued operations at Palm Beach,^[2] and service has subsequently been discontinued at Daytona and Treasure Island as well. On December 16, 2009, SunCruz Casinos was reported to be closing amid allegations that it owed $300,000 to the Canaveral Port Authority.^[3] Less than two weeks later, on December 28, parent company Ocean Casino Cruises filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy.^[4] At the time of the filing, there were approximately 300 full and part-time employees.^[5] In May 2010, SunCruz returned to Little River, South Carolina under a new name, SantaCruz Casino, and under new ownership by Casino Partners of South Carolina, LLC.^[6]

Lawsuit by Horry County[edit]

In 2011, Horry County sued the operator of SunCruz Aquasino for breach of contract, alleging that SunCruz had failed to make payments to Horry County for passenger fees received during the months of August and September 2011. Horry County was supposed to receive a fee of $7 per passenger instead, of collecting taxes based on the boat's revenue. The suit asked for $165,000 in back payments plus legal costs.^[7][8][9] Aquasino asserted they had stopped making payments due to the county not enforcing a ban on illegal gambling, which was also part of the agreement. The company's position was that it had protested the boarding fees from the beginning of their relationship with the county, stating they were onerous. Even so, they had continued to pay those fees in good faith. However, when the county did not seem to be doing enough regarding the illegal gambling, they suspended payments, entering into negotiations with the county to reach a compromise. It was during these negotiations when the county filed its lawsuit.^[10]

On July 23, 2012, Horry County Circuit Judge Benjamin Culbertson ordered SunCruz Casino to start paying the passenger boarding fees as stipulated in the agreement, but did not issue a ruling on any alleged past due amounts. On July 29, the county received a check for $20,202.^[11]

Cruz/Gambling Features and Options[edit]

SunCruz Aquasino offers players Vegas-style slots ranging from $0.02 to $25.00, including ticket-in and ticket-out machines. Blackjack, Poker, Texas Hold ’Em, Rummy, Roulette, Craps, and sports-book wagering are also offered.

See also[edit]

• SunCruz Casinos, a former casino boat company that went bankrupt in 2009.

Footnotes[edit]

1. ^New York Times retrieved Sept. 19, 2012
2. ^'Port of Palm Beach statement'.
3. ^NBC News
4. ^http://www.cfnews13.com/Business/LocalBusinessHeadlines/2009/12/29/suncruzs_parent_company_files_for_bankruptcy.html
5. ^Price, Wayne T. (11 January 2010). 'SunCruz offers apologies'. Florida Today. Melbourne, Florida: Florida Today. pp. 14A.
6. ^'New owners buy Sun Cruz, sending casino boat to SC'. Carolina Live/ WPDE-TV. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: Carolina Live/ WPDE-TV. 4 April 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
7. ^Naquin, Ryan (2011-11-16). 'Horry County sues casino boat for not paying passenger fees'. WPDE-TV. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
8. ^Naquin, Ryan (2011-11-16). 'Casino boat gets reality show, still owes county $500,000'. WPDE-TV. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
9. ^'SunCruz Casino responds to lawsuit'. WMBF-TV. 2011-11-16. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
10. ^Naquin, Ryan (2012-11-16). 'Horry County sues casino boat for not paying passenger fees'. CarolinaLive.com. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
11. ^Naquin, Ryan (2012-08-02). 'Sun Cruz Casino ordered to pay Horry County taxes'. WPDE-TV. Retrieved 2012-09-25.