Caesars to Launch Horseshoe Online Casino Brand in Michigan This Fall

During this week’s earnings call reporting Q2 earnings, President of Caesars Sports and Online Eric Hession confirmed that the new online brand for the company will be Horseshoe Casino in Michigan.

Ceasars confirms Horseshoe Casino in Michigan will launch this September for the college football, NFL seasons

Horseshoe Casino will debut in the Great Lakes State in September. Although Caesars announced that its new platform would be up “by the end of the year,” completing the acquisition of WynnBET‘s license expedited the launch process.

“We’re launching it slightly differently than we did with Caesars Palace, where we’re going to do effectively one state at a time,” Hession said. “So pending regulatory approvals, we’re going to launch in Michigan in September time frame. And then we’ll roll out into the other states throughout the year, ending in Ontario in Q1.

The September period coincides with football season, so this is the ideal time to launch a new platform. Caesars initially purchased WynnBET’s license to bring a new platform to Michigan in February.

Caesars reported net losses of $122 million in Q2. The losses were largely attributed to the release of a $940 million valuation allowance against deferred tax assets.

Hession does not expected Horseshoe Casino will command the market share that Caesars has

Fortunately, net revenues were up to $276 million compared to $216 million last year. The division also generated $4 million in net income. This reduced the year-to-date losses for digital to $30 million for 2024.

Caesars Digital posted adjusted EBITDA of $11 million compared to the $69 million loss last year as well.

However, Hession also mentioned that Horseshoe is not expected to outperform the Caesars Palace platform. He believes “Horseshoe [will] perform very strongly,” but not on par with Caesars.

“I also would temper the expectations. Horseshoe is a great brand, and we feel like it’s going to resonate with a lot of customers. But Caesars is even a better brand,” Hession added.

“And quite frankly, that’s going to be the flagship app that we have, and it’s got a year’s lead over the Horseshoe. So I would expect the Horseshoe to perform very strongly, but I don’t think it will command the market share that Caesars will.”

Caesars is among the top five online casinos in Michigan, along with BetRivers, BetMGM, FanDuel, and DraftKings. The company’s iGaming business is growing at a 50% rate, according to Heisson.