Both the University of Michigan and Michigan State University are riding high right now in both of the revenue sports. The Spartans and Wolverines traditional, and also recent, prowess in both football and men’s basketball has created quite a buzz in the state.
In the state of great lakes splendor, fans are very excited about college sports, and that interest should only rise as the state moves towards possibly legalizing sports gambling soon. A current package of state House bills would permit online sports wagering, poker and casino gambling as well as live in-person sports betting at state casinos.
The ultimate success or failure of the bills could lay with new Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who may be more open to legalizing sports gambling than her predecessor. You can learn a lot more about legal wagering at Michigan-bet.com and as it stands right now, the upper Midwestern state already permits traditional commercial and internet-based lotteries, casinos on Native American reservations and three established casinos in the state’s biggest city, Detroit. It will be interesting to see how it all plays in the state capitol of Lansing; a city coincidentally situated next to Michigan State University.
In the meantime, both schools are up on the national title boards, and you can wager on both where sports gaming is already legalized. The UM-MSU rivalry is already very heated as it is, and legal sports gaming will only ratchet up people’s vested interests in both teams.
Vegas Insider gives the Wolverines the sixth best college football national title odds of any team. MSU are not on their board, which runs runs 27 deep, but the Spartans do show on Odds Shark’s listing, priced at +3000, the 12th best odds overall. Michigan show up with the sixth best odds, backed at +1400.
Meanwhile, UM quarterback Shea Patterson is on VI’s Heisman Trophy boards, priced at 28/1. Shifting over to their college basketball national title futures, both teams are present. Michigan State have the fourth best national championship odds at 8/1, with Michigan right behind them, priced at 12/1.
Both teams were #2 seeds in this past NCAA Tournament, and the two sides met in the Big Ten Title game in March. MSU reached the Final Four this past March Madness whilst Michigan reached the 2018 national title game.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.