Sen. Veronica Klinefelt’s SB 511 proposes amending Michigan law to permit friendly social wagering such as sports squares and pools. The bill allows limited stakes and participants while prohibiting contests at gaming venues, bars, and restaurants.
A Michigan senator has proposed legislation that would amend state gaming law regarding the legality of social wagering contests.
Earlier this month, Sen. Veronica Klinefelt proposed Senate Bill 511, which would change the Michigan Penal Code to allow social wagering activities such as betting pools and sports squares. SB 511 authorizes wagering transactions that are “incidental to a bona fide social relationship.”
“The sole purpose of SB 511 is to legalize what we do every day, what everyone does all the time: bet their best friend $5 on a football game,” Klinefelt stated during a Committee on Regulatory Affairs hearing. “People do March Madness and Super Bowl squares with their friends, nobody is making any money, nobody is making any profit off of it.”
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The measure would allow social wagering pools or contests with a maximum of 100 participants and individual wagers of up to $25. SB 511 makes social wagering events like March Madness bracket pools and Super Bowl squares permissible in the Wolverine State. SB 511 states that “no other money or thing of value” may be incorporated in the contests beyond the initial individual wager amounts. The legislation also specifies that contest rewards be awarded solely to one or more participants in the transaction.
SB 511 also establishes particular rules for where the contests may take place.
The legislation outlaws social wagering transactions at gaming institutions, including brick-and-mortar sportsbooks. SB 511 also prohibits transactions at restaurants, entertainment venues, and bars. Businesses hosting the transactions are not allowed to promote them in order to “bring in extra customers to the business.”
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