Calls to the Gambling Hotline Have Increased in Michigan Sports betting and online gambling has taken Michigan by storm -- and our TV's with all of those commercials -- since becoming legal a few months ago, but it was expected it would come at a cost. The Lansing State Journal reports that calls to the gambling helpline have gone up in the state since then, and it started almost right away. ...operators had collected $42.7 million in gross receipts in the first 10 days Michiganders were allowed to place bets from home. The Michigan Problem Gambling Helpline received 563 calls in February... 5x the volume of calls compared to the year prior. An expert with Michigan State University told LSJ that the reasoning for this is tied to the increase in online gambling, which saw a huge jump during the pandemic.