Michigan’s online casino and sports betting market will officially launch on Friday (22), just in time for this weekend’s NFL conference championships. 

On Tuesday, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) confirmed that nine of the state’s tribal and commercial casino operators and their respective platform providers had been cleared to launch online sports betting and casino games as of noon on Friday. The launch comes 13 months after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the state’s iGaming legislation into law.

The nine lucky operators are six fewer than received preliminary approval in December but the MGCB said additional final approvals would be granted in the coming weeks pending successful testing of operators’ online systems.  

The nine online horses packed into Friday’s starting gate include all three Detroit commercial casinos – Greektown (operating as Penn National Gaming’s Barstool Sportsbook), MGM Grand Detroit (BetMGM) and MotorCity (FanDuel).