Michigan guv vetoes online gambling legislation

Michigan’s governor has vetoed the online gambling bill the state’s legislature approved just days before Christmas.

On Friday, Michigan’s outgoing Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a smorgasbord of bills that the state legislature passed in the days before Christmas, including the HB 4926 bill that would have authorized the state’s commercial and tribal casino operators to launch intrastate online gambling operations.

Snyder issued a letter justifying his veto, saying he appreciated the “significant amount of work’ that legislators such as Rep. Brandt Iden had put into achieving consensus among the state’s commercial and tribal gaming operators, but claimed that government agencies “simply don’t have the data to support this change at this time.”

Snyder claimed that authorizing online gambling could cause the state’s gamblers to shift their focus “from the state’s iLottery program to internet-based gambling at casinos.” The Michigan Lottery launched its online sales division in November 2014 and it has gone on to become a significant contributor to the state’s lottery revenue.