Michigan is finally joining the online poker liquidity sharing agreement after years of waiting. With this approval, online poker websites in Michigan, New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada could soon host customers from all the participating states on a single network despite being on different state lines. Now that the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association has accepted Michigan into the agreement, all that’s left is the Wolverine State’s execution.
Michigan paved the way for gaming expansion in the state in January 2020. This expansion is what effectively legitimized several forms of iGaming including online poker and other casino games, fantasy sports, as well as sports betting in Michigan. The legalization of iGaming in Michigan came after the Governor at the time, Governor Rick Snyder, barred the version of the Lawful Internet Gaming Act that was originally created in 2018.
At the time of the launch, the Michigan Gaming Control Board had green-lighted the first 10 casinos, as well as their online platform allies to start operating. However, additional approvals were given thus allowing Michigan to quickly grow into one of the most profitable. At present, some of the platforms available in Michigan include William Hill, BetMGM, Draftkings, PointsBet, and more.
With Michigan finally approved to join the online poker liquidity sharing arrangement, all these operators will soon be able to pool players with other states. The main idea here is to give online poker sites such as the ones mentioned above an opportunity to boost and strengthen their respective products with bigger tournament field sizes and cash game products.
Nevada was the first to enter the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement with Delaware in 2014. This occurred after Assembly bills 114 and 360 were passed in Nevada. However, the state had already approved online poker a year earlier in 2014.
New Jersey joined the multi-state agreement later on in 2017 thus escalating the Association’s shared liquidity to full online casino gaming. Before New Jersey joined the pact, the agreement only covered peer-to-peer poker. At present, Nevada still only permits online poker while Delaware, Michigan, and New Jersey each permit online slots and an array of other online casino card games.
What we cover
The Multi-State Internet Gaming Association inviting other states to join
The Multi-State Internet Gaming Association has been working hard behind the scenes to generate some interest from other states. For instance, even though Pennsylvania also offers legal online poker to its residents, the state has still yet to join the multi-state gaming compact. In PA, in particular, the issue of pooling its players with the states already in the agreement appears to be more complicated than it may first appear on the surface.
This partly helps to explain why the state has not joined the compact yet. Bureaucracy has proven to be one of the largest challenges for the state, which is why the process has stalled for years. Why is a shared player pool so crucial for the iGaming market in the country?
The importance of shared player pools cannot be understated, especially for any online poker players that have previously experienced online poker in their earlier years. Back then, when online poker sites such as FullTilt, PokerStars, and other international sites were operating in the country, poker players had access to much larger prize pools than they have access to today.
Before the Department of Justice cracked down and brought an end to international poker sites on the infamous Black Friday, poker players in the US experienced this shared liquidity. Before the Black Friday crackdown of 2011, poker players would take part in tournaments across the different states and international borders. This would result in massive prize pools compared to the ring-fenced online poker sites that poker players in PA have been experiencing. When player pools were shared, the number of games available, as well as their concurrent cash games were also out of this world.
Now that Michigan has agreed to share liquidity, perhaps Pennsylvania will also be inspired to do the same. Poker players in Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada have already seen the benefits of shared liquidity firsthand. Owing to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, poker brands such as WSOP have been offering online poker tournaments that span all 3 states.
This means that punters in the states can easily compete against one another in similar tournament fields including the famous WSOP bracelet events. On the operator’s side, the revenue generated by players in each of the states in the agreement always remains in the respective states, thus creating a win-win situation for all parties involved.
So will Pennsylvania ever join the agreement? It is still unclear whether this will happen. The good news though is that Pennsylvania’s gaming law allows for interstate compacting. However, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is not the only one that can give the nod for this to occur.
Before PA can join the shared liquidity agreement, many other parties including poker operators and other authorities will have to give their input. Ultimately, the final decision on whether PA will join the shared liquidity agreement will rest with the Governor’s office. If the current Governor Tom Wolf does not sign the agreement this year, that responsibility will have to be passed down to the incoming Governor-elect.
Final Thoughts
Now that Michigan has joined the online poker liquidity sharing agreement, all the different online operators will now have to be approved individually before they can join the multi-state poker. When OFFICIALLY approved, the online poker players in the 4 states that enjoy legal, online poker should soon see a huge improvement in the services, as well as prizes on offer. The operators that boast licenses in the 4 states should also notice a considerable boost in their player registrations and revenue.
Due to this approval, operators such as BetMGM and PokerStars will soon easily set up a multi-state online poker network. When this happens, this will bridge the gap between New Jersey and Michigan poker players for the first time in history. WSOP and 888, which both already operate a multi-state online poker network in Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada, will now expand their services into Michigan, where WSOP debuted services just recently.
