Horseshoe Online Casino has launched Michigan, replacing the beleaguered WynnBet. WynnBet customers will be guided through migrating their accounts to the new site. All former WynnBet customers who migrate their accounts will also be enrolled in Caesars Rewards.
Caesars Entertainment agreed to acquire Wynn’s Michigan online gaming license in February; the deal was completed in June. This is Caesars’ first online gaming offering to use the Horseshoe brand.
Michigan permits 15 online gambling licenses; each must be tied to a tribe with a brick-and-mortar casino. Caesars already had its Caesars Palace site, partnering with the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and its Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel on the license.
Caesars was able to take over Wynn’s license
Because all 15 licenses were already taken, there was no room for Caesars to establish Horseshoe in the state. Enter WynnBet, which was looking to withdraw from the US market. With the state regulator’s approval, Caesars was able to take over Wynn’s license, as well as its partnership with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and the Kewadin Casino.
WynnBet is now out of the US online casino market entirely. It previously closed operations in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Indiana, Tennessee, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Virginia, leaving Massachusetts and Nevada, where it also has land-based casinos, as well as Michigan and New York.
WynnBet sold its New York license to Penn Entertainment in February, which just launched ESPN Bet with it last week. It also decided to withdraw its online gaming offering from Massachusetts earlier this year. The only online product it has left is its sports betting app in Nevada.