Detroit Casino Guide 2026: Ages, Tribal Casinos And Online Play
Detroit is the only city in Michigan with commercial casinos, and it has exactly three. Every other gaming floor in the state belongs to one of 12 tribes, and each tribe sets many of its own house rules. That means the nearest Detroit casino and a tribal property a couple of hours away can card you at different ages, handle smoking differently and fall under different exclusion lists.
Then there’s the option that needs no drive at all. Online play is a third route, and it splits into two lanes of its own. Which one suits you depends on where you live, how old you are and what you want from the night.
Detroit’s Big Three Side by Side
MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino and Hollywood Casino at Greektown all run slots, table games and retail sports betting. MGM Grand Detroit is the biggest of the three by revenue and Hollywood Casino at Greektown the smallest. In September 2026, MGM took 47% of the city’s casino revenue, MotorCity 32% and Greektown 21%, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board’s monthly revenue report.
If you’re searching for Greektown Casino, Hollywood Casino at Greektown is the same place. It ran as Greektown Casino-Hotel from 2000 to 2022 before taking the Hollywood name, and you’ll find it at 555 East Lafayette Street.
Your Age Decides Which Doors Open
In Detroit you need to be 21 and over for everything: slots, table games and the sportsbook counter. Tribal floors work differently because each tribe sets its own age. Kewadin Casinos have admitted players 18 and older since March 30, 2022. Some other tribal properties may admit the same ages, so call ahead before you make the drive. Michigan’s state-licensed online gaming, poker and sports betting apps are all 21+.
So if you’re 18+ but too young for anything marked 21+, you have two routes. In person, it’s a tribal property such as Kewadin, whose locations are in the Upper Peninsula, a long way from Detroit. Online, offshore sites take players 18 and older from anywhere in the state, with no drive north at all.
| Where you play | Slots, table games and poker | Sports betting |
|---|---|---|
| Detroit’s commercial floors | 21+ | 21+ |
| Tribal properties | Set by the tribe (18+ at Kewadin) | May follow the tribe’s own age |
| Michigan’s state-licensed online sites | 21+ | 21+ |
| Offshore online sites | 18+ at many sites | 18+ at many sites |
Michigan’s Tribal Properties, From the Southwest to the UP
Michigan has compacts with 12 Native American tribes, which ran 23 tribal gaming properties at the end of 2024, according to the board’s 2024 tribal gaming report. Federal law authorizes them through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Under the compacts, each tribe regulates its own gaming, and the state’s role is limited to checking that the tribe follows its compact.
For you, that changes who’s in charge on the floor. In Detroit, the state’s gaming board licenses the properties and handles patron dispute forms. On tribal land, the tribe’s own regulators make the calls.
| Region | Tribal properties to know |
|---|---|
| Southwest Michigan | Four Winds, Gun Lake, FireKeepers |
| Mid-Michigan | Soaring Eagle, Saganing Eagles Landing |
| Northern Lower Peninsula | Turtle Creek, Grand Traverse Resort, Odawa, Little River, Leelanau Sands |
| Upper Peninsula | Kewadin, Bay Mills, Island Resort, Ojibwa, Northern Waters |
Finding the Nearest Floor to Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing or Flint
From any of these four cities, your realistic choices are a Detroit floor or the nearest tribal property. From Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo, start with the southwest group. From Ann Arbor, Flint or Lansing, set the drive to Detroit against the drive to the mid-Michigan properties and pick whichever fits your night. Traverse City has two tribal options close by, Turtle Creek and Grand Traverse Resort.
Before You Drive: Hours, Parking and the Trip Itself
Hours
All three Detroit casinos are open around the clock, every day of the year, so a late arrival is never a problem downtown. Tribal properties set their own schedules: the big resorts usually run the gaming floor through the night, while some smaller ones close for a few hours or keep shorter hours midweek, so check before planning a very late drive.
Parking in Detroit
MotorCity Casino Hotel offers free self-parking and free valet. At Hollywood Casino at Greektown, parking is complimentary with a qualifying PENN Play card; without one, you pay at a kiosk by credit card, as the garage doesn’t take cash. MGM Grand Detroit has its own garage on site, and what you pay there can depend on your MGM Rewards level, so check the current rate before you go, especially on a game or concert night, when downtown garages fill up and prices rise.
Free Rides Downtown: People Mover and QLINE
The Detroit People Mover is free to ride, and it stops right inside Hollywood Casino at Greektown: the Greektown station is on Level 3 of the building. For MGM Grand Detroit, the nearest stop is Times Square. MotorCity Casino Hotel isn’t beside a People Mover station, so plan on a car, a rideshare or a short walk from the loop.
At the time of writing, the People Mover runs 6:30 AM to midnight on weekdays, 10 AM to midnight on Saturdays and 10 AM to 10 PM on Sundays. The gaming floors stay open long after that, so line up a ride home if you’re staying late. The QLINE streetcar along Woodward Avenue is free as well, and it connects with the People Mover at Grand Circus Park, Times Square and the Financial District.
Bus Trips to the Tribal Resorts
The tribes don’t run their own buses from Detroit, but plenty of tour operators, senior centers and township parks departments do, with day and overnight trips to FireKeepers, Soaring Eagle, Saganing Eagles Landing, Gun Lake and Four Winds. Many come with a casino incentive package for each rider who arrives on the bus. Ask your local parks and recreation office, or search online for bus trips from your part of Metro Detroit.
Smoking Rules
Smoking depends on whose floor you’re on. Michigan’s smoke-free law exempts commercial casino gaming floors, so you can still smoke indoors on the Detroit floors. Tribal properties were never covered by the state law, and some tribes have chosen to go smoke-free. The Ojibwa casinos in Baraga and Marquette did so on March 24, 2025. If smoke matters to you either way, ask about the current policy before you go.
Staying Overnight
All three Detroit casinos have hotels attached, so you can park once and stay put. Most of the larger tribal resorts, Soaring Eagle, FireKeepers and Four Winds among them, have hotels too, which matters most up north or in the UP, where the drive home is long.
A Road Trip or Online Play: How They Compare
| Detroit | Tribal | Online | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where | Three properties, all in Detroit | 23 properties spread from the southwest to the Upper Peninsula | Anywhere in Michigan with a connection |
| Hours | Long hours; check the property | Set by each property | Whenever you log in |
| Games | Slots, table games, retail sports betting | Slots and table games; poker and sports betting vary by property | Slots, table games, live-dealer games |
| Rewards | Player’s club points | Player’s club points | Varies by site |
| Cost beyond your bets | Gas, parking, food, maybe a room | Often a longer drive, so possibly a room | No gas, parking or room |
Comps on the Floor, Bonuses on the Screen
The two reward systems work in opposite directions. A player’s club card on a Detroit or tribal floor tracks what you’ve already played and turns it into comps. An online welcome bonus comes first, before you’ve played much at all. Bonus funds usually carry a wagering requirement, often called a rollover, that you must play through before you can withdraw. Read that requirement before you claim the bonus, because it decides whether the offer is worth taking.
Offshore Sites Open From Anywhere In The State
Offshore sites are the other online route, and none of them is tied to a Michigan land casino. As a group, they offer real-money slots, table games and live-dealer tables, and they’re licensed outside the United States. Our list of the best online casinos in Michigan puts them side by side.
That missing tie changes how you choose. A state-licensed app comes attached to one Detroit or tribal property and holds to the state’s 21+ rule. An offshore site answers to neither, which is why it’s the one online option open to you before you reach the 21+ mark, and why you judge it on its own games and terms rather than on whose floor stands behind it.
No Michigan law names a player who bets with a site licensed abroad: the state’s 2019 online gaming acts license operators rather than address players.
If you want to know how we choose what we list, read how we rank the sites we list.
Full write-ups of individual sites are in our casino reviews. If your plan is to play from your phone instead of driving to Greektown or Gun Lake, our guide to mobile casino play in Michigan covers that next step.
Michigan’s State-Licensed Apps and Their Land-Based Partners
Michigan’s own licensed online market is built around its land-based properties: the law allows one online casino for each of them, so every state-licensed site is tied to one of the Detroit three or to a tribe. Regulated online gaming and sports betting went live on January 22, 2021, with the Detroit properties and tribes both among the launch partners.
That tie explains a common search result. Search “Gun Lake online casino” or “FireKeepers online casino” and you’ll get an app. That app is the state-licensed site partnered with that tribe, not the resort’s own floor moved online.
Taking a Break: Which List Covers Which Floor
Michigan’s self-exclusion options follow the same split as everything else. The board’s Disassociated Persons List covers Detroit’s three commercial casinos only. The state runs no self-exclusion list for tribal properties, though a tribe may run its own, so ask on site. A separate list from the board covers the state-licensed apps.
Maybe a Friday drive to the tables has started to feel like a standing appointment. Maybe you’ve caught yourself topping up an online balance just to finish a bonus rollover. Either way, Michigan’s problem gambling helpline at 1-800-270-7117 is there to talk it through, whether or not you go on to join any list. The National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-MY-RESET, is a second number to call.
Michigan Casino FAQ
Offshore online sites are open to you from anywhere in the state, and the lottery, horse racing, bingo and daily fantasy sports are all open to players 18 and older in Michigan.
No. Michigan doesn’t license sweepstakes casinos, and the state’s gaming regulator has ordered sweepstakes operators to stop taking Michigan players.
Michigan’s licensed online poker shares player pools with other states, so you can sit at tables with players from outside Michigan.
You stay on the Disassociated Persons List until you’re removed, and you can’t apply for removal until at least five years have passed.
Every year: the state’s gaming board renews all three licenses on a yearly cycle.
It’s a small slice. In September 2026 the three properties made $103.55 million in total. Table games and slots brought in $102.78 million of that, and retail sports betting about $770,000.