The Best Football Betting Sites in Michigan - May 2024

If you love football, enjoy a bet and live in Michigan, look no further.  Our team of experts have selected the best football betting sites. Critically, this site - Best Betting Michigan - is fully regulated by the Michigan Gaming Control Board and we only promote sportsbooks that have legal status within the state.

Find out everything you need to know about online betting on Football in Michigan as we walk you through everything relevant - from the best sportsbooks and bonuses, to going in-depth around what makes a sportsbook standout for football bettors.

The Best Football Betting Sites in Michigan for 2024

Making our top football betting sites lists means you meet the following criteria:

• Licensed by the Michigan Gaming Control Board
• Safe & secure technology
• Wide range of football betting options
• Football betting promotions
• Approved payment vendors
• Trustworthy brand

What Do the Best Football Betting Sites Offer?

All of the football betting sites listed here are great but what stands one out to be the best? We believe that the best football betting sites in Michigan should offer more and never stand still. The king of sportsbooks will be constantly updating their football betting product, taking a lead on:

• Betting market depth including; NFL, College football and Canadian Football League
• In-Play betting options
• Live football betting data & visuals/streaming
• Player Prop bets
• Same game parlays
• Free to play football games
• Regular football bonuses
• Detroit Lions and Michigan Wolverines specific betting promotions 

Let’s take a look at some of the key features in greater detail

Football Betting Cash out

Cash out gives you the opportunity to settle the bet in advance of the final outcome. You may choose to cash out for two reasons:

• Guarantee Profit
• Reduce Losses

At any given time after you have placed your bet, and where a cash out option is available, the sportsbook will offer you an early settlement price.  Example - your team has a lead with five left in the 4th quarter. The lead covers the spread and gains you a payout if they hold out. The problem is the opposition are coming on strong and one TD blows the bet out. If you don’t think they will hold out, cash out allows you to take an amount that will still see you in profit but not as high as the original bet.     

Flip that on it’s head and let's say your team loses their star quarterback early in the game. Now you only see your bet losing. This might be a time to cash out so that you don’t lose your whole stake. 

Football Live Streaming - Watch and Bet

One of the best technical innovations to happen to betting on football was live streaming.  Where the rights permit, live streaming allows you to watch the action on your desktop or mobile device within your sportsbook.  

As well as being able to watch the football and bet within the same interface, you are also surrounded by live data streams.  Utilising the real time stats and vision, this empowers you to make quick decisions on your betting activity.  Whether placing new bets or utilising the cash out feature, live streaming is an excellent feature. 

Bespoke Football Betting Bonuses

Providing betting bonuses is a great way for your sportsbook to reward loyalty.  Luckily for you, the sports betting market in Michigan is super competitive and that means plenty of new and exciting football betting bonuses.  

Types of promotions that you might see include:

• Odds Boost: Player A to score a Touchdown and Team X to win, normal odds +160 boosted to +190.   On a $25 wager, you would be getting a profit bonus to $7.50 (Total profit $47.50).
• Parlay Insurance: Place a three leg parlay and if one leg lets you down, get a free bet up to $X. 
• Risk Free Bet: Place a First TD Scorer prop bet on any NFL game, and get up to $20 in free bets if your pick doesn’t get into the endzone first.

There are many variations on these but please remember to read the key terms before you engage. 

Football Betting Competitions - What Can I Bet On?

With the introduction of online sports betting in Michigan, the question would be easier to answer in reverse.  What football competitions can I bet on should be what football can’t I bet on?  We go into the betting markets in greater detail below first, let’s have a quick look at the football leagues and tournaments available:  

Betting on the NFL in Michigan

You can bet on everything from the NFL Pre-season through to the Superbowl. Michigan legalized online football betting in December 2019 with the first bets being wagered in early 2021.  In between, betting on the NFL was possible in Michigan at licensed sportsbook venues such as Dacey’s in the Firekeepers Casino. 

The popularity of NFL Football is global and even before Michigan, the sportsbooks were offering NFL odds and lines.  Operating in other States and countries, many of the best NFL betting sites now live in Michigan have been refining their product for many years.  This is great for us, and you can rest assured that all of the books listed here are legal, safe and offer a top football betting product.   

Betting on College Football

There is argument to be had that betting on College Football is a better option for those looking to make money from football betting.  One key pillar to this argument is player experience.  Their ability to deal with situations and the pressure that comes with that is more difficult for sportsbook handicappers to judge.  It’s certainly a more significant variable than for those established NFL players. 

With the State of Michigan legalizing betting on College Football, all of the sportsbooks operating in the State offer it.  One key difference to the NFL however is the availability of individual College Player prop bets.  The NCAA were against books offering these types of wagers from the start given the pressure and exposure to their peers in a college environment.    

While more limited in terms of betting market depth, There are great College Football betting products and our top three are listed here:

Canadian Football League Betting

While it will never reach the standard of the NFL or College Football, the CFL is improving.  Its popularity is evidenced by its increasing viewership and growing betting handles. The 2019 Grey Cup saw a 19% rise, backed up with the 2020 Draft doubling that of 2019.  

Without doubt, the best football betting sites in Michigan will offer Canadian Football League betting odds and lines.  With so much real time data available and the technology to support, the depth of CFL betting markets that the sportsbooks can now offer is on a par with any of the major leagues. 

Football Betting Markets - the Most Popular in Michigan

The most popular football betting markets based on bookmaker handle will come as no surprise.     

• Spread wagering, 
• Money Line Wagering
• Total Points Wagering

In addition to these three bet types which we will go into greater detail on below, there is a growing trend for Touchdown markets. First player to score a TD, a player to score a TD at any time and last player to score a TD in the game.  In all of the above examples, the popularity of them means that the market is pretty efficient and harder to find value. 

Popular among seasoned sports bettors would be in the more granular player prop bets. For those deep into the data and with time to analyze the market, these bet types can offer up some serious value.  Less popular by the mass audience means that the book is susceptible to price volatility and thus opportunity. Bets such as passing and receiving yards would be examples of this.

In most Michigan sportsbooks, the following three bets will be the most prominent on site.

Money Line

The most simple bet type of them all. It is a straight head to head on which team will win.  This could be the game, half or a named quarter. Overtime usually counts unless explicitly stated by the sportsbook.  There is not a sportsbook in Michigan that does not have the football money line available.  

As an example of how the bet works:  

• Detroit Lions +380
• Tennessee Titans -490

As heavy favourites, a $100 bet on the home team, Tennessee, would see a return of $120.41.  This includes your stake leaving you with a profit of $20.41

If you see something in the Lions (other than loyalty), a $100 bet would return $480.  This includes your stake to leave you with a profit of $380. 

Spread

Essentially, a spread wager removes the advantage one team may have over the other.  The sportsbook will create a point spread with the favourite starting the game with a negative that must be covered.  The team going into the match as the underdog will be given a positive points head start.  

As an example of how the spread wager works, you will see something like the below:

• Detroit Lions: +9.5 (-110)
• Tennessee Titans -9.5 (-110)

This means that the Titans start the game as favourites and thus have a 9.5 point handicap.  They need to win the game by 10 points or more for this wager to win.  Titans winning 31 - 27 would be a losing bet.  A Titans win of 46 - 25 would settle this as a win with Tennessee covering the spread. 

The great thing about a spread wager is that when backing the favoured team, if you think they are going to crush it, the profit will be better than the money line bet. Equally, you can bet on the underdog if you think the handicapper has overstated the margin of defeat and still get a payout if the favoured team wins. 

Continuing the above example, you think that Detroit has a real chance of a surprise and any defeat will be tight.  Opting for the spread over the money line will reduce your profit but improve your chance of a winning bet.  In the Titans 31 - 27 example, a bet on the Lions +9.5 effectively means the final result is Titans 31 - 36.5.  The Lions have beat the spread in this scenario and the sportsbook payout. 

Total Points

This is a fairly self explanatory bet with the result based on the score.  Typically on the end result but also available on a half or quarter period.  The most popular though is total game points and is the sum of the two teams points at the end of the game including overtime.  

The Sportsbook handicappers will offer a points total and you have the option to bet over or under.  Here is a scenario you may see on a sportsbook. 

• Over 47.5 (-110)
• Under 47.5 (-110)

Betting on the overs means that you must see the final result points total (combine the points scored by both teams) at 48 or more.  Betting on the unders means that the total must be 47 or lower to settle as a win.  We love this bet because it's simple and it’s a really fun way to engage in a football game. 

Parlay Football Betting - How to Maximise Potential Winnings

Parlay Football betting is a great way to increase your profits.  Essentially a Football parlay bet is done by combining multiple straight bets into one wager.  The odds of each independent leg are multiplied together to give you the resulting odds.  To settle the bet as a win, all legs must come in.  

Lets see an example of how a football parlay improves your profit on three game favourites:

Game 1:

• Tampa (-450)
• Washington (+350)

Game 2:

• Chicago (+350)
• New Orleans (-450)

Game 3

• Cleveland (+172)
• Pittsburgh (-205)

Let’s say that all of the favoured teams win their games.   Backed as three individual bets, the final profit, based on a $100 investment per game would be: $22.22 + $22.22 + $48.78 = $93.22

Parlay these three games and you will be given a combined price of +122.  The same $300 investment would see a profit of $366.76.  

Live Football Betting Sites for Michigan Players

Live betting is quickly becoming popular in Michigan. In other more established legal betting jurisdictions such as the UK, in-play bets dominate.  It is estimated that over 70% of soccer handle is generated on live markets.  

We predict this trend for live betting on football to follow this.  The game is fundamentally set-up for live betting with natural breaks between plays.  There is more data available in real time than ever before and this puts the knowledge in your hands. As the game quickly ebbs and flows, this leaves real opportunity to find value in the betting markets. Products are always improving and vary significantly between each sportsbook. 

Conclusion

As the number one betting sport in America, and in particular within Michigan state lines, it's fair to say that there's a wealth of betting sites that are geared up extremely well for football fans. These football betting sites offer bespoke football bonuses, can offer strong live betting products, are safe and secure to bet with, and ultimately put a football fans entertainment at the heart of what they do.

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