Sports Illustrated Online Casino Announces Exit from Michigan

The Michigan online casino industry is about to get a little bit smaller.

It has been announced that the Sports Illustrated online casino will be exiting the Michigan market at the end of 2024. The news was expected after the Evoke (formerly 888 Holdings) ended its partnership with the sports media brand. Evoke helped create and manage the platform, making the closure of the online casino all but guaranteed.

The SI online casino had struggled to gain market share in the crowded Midwest market. They continually finish at the bottom of revenue numbers among the state’s 15 online casinos. That includes April 2024, which was the second-best month since the industry launched in 2019.

Michigan was the only state where the SI online casino was still operating, meaning their exit from the state will also be their exit from the US market.

The SI online casino will remain available to players, but customers should keep an eye out for an officially exit date for the floundering platform.

While the exit of Sports Illustrated will leave the state with one less online casino option, it likely won’t take long to replace them. Michigan online casinos trail only Pennsylvania in revenue from online casinos, leading to all 15 of their available licenses being coveted assets.

Even though SI’s failure shows how hard it is to compete with the likes of FanDuel and BetMGM, the market size is sure to attract plenty of attention from operators. Many expect Hard Rock to make a major push for the state’s one open license, which would bring in another major industry player. The operator recently purchased the US assets from 888casino and 888sport, further boosting their already impressive presence in the US online gambling industry.

The announcement of Sports Illustrated’s exit from Michigan is the latest in a long line of bad news for the once great brand.

The SI Sportsbook entered the sports betting industry with a lot of hype but was swallowed up by the industry’s other major players. Their bland and somewhat clunky platform turned off many bettors, which drove bettors away. That was made worse when the SI media brand was exposed for using AI to create articles, destroying the little goodwill the brand still had.

With their partnership with Evoke at an end, the SI Sportsbook will also be exiting the US market. It is currently available in Colorado, Michigan, and Virginia, but will be exiting all three markets at the end of the year.

With the hope of increasing profits from an expanded online gambling market gone, it seems that the brand may soon disappear altogether.