Michigan becomes latest state to join online poker shared liquidity club
Great Lakes State signs up to Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, with Pennsylvania set to follow
Michigan will become the fourth state to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), paving the way for poker players in the Great Lakes State to play with other US players in states with legalized online poker.
The effect of this is increased prize pools and larger player numbers and therefore greater rake and fees, Michigan Gaming Control Board executive director Henry Williams stated.
At present, Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey are all part of MSIGA, with regulators in all states required to approve the addition of new states into the agreement.
However, WSOP.com powered by 888’s proprietary software is the only operator all three states and able to pool players.
The inclusion of Michigan now opens up the way for BetMGM and PokerStars, which both operate in New Jersey and Michigan, to begin sharing prize pools and liquidity between both states.
PokerStars and BetMGM are also live in Pennsylvania, which is expected to become the fifth state to join the compact later this year.
The addition of Michigan brings the number of people covered by MSIGA up to 23.5 million, or roughly 7% of the entire US population.
MSIGA is seen by many as an important tool in encouraging the growth of online poker in the US, and perhaps even a second poker boom more than a decade after so-called ‘Black Friday’ dismantled unregulated online poker overnight.
This was when US Department of Justice issued indictments in April 2011 against three of the largest online poker rooms – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker – for violations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) singed in 2006. All three sites were shut down to US players.
Since then, legalizing online poker has been a slow process, while legislators have been more interested in regulating sports betting than a product like poker which doesn’t raise nearly as much for state coffers in taxes.
Currently, seven states have legalised online poker, although no operator has launched in West Virginia due to its modest population making intrastate poker unviable. It is a similar situation in Connecticut, although there are hopes both states will eventually sign up to MSIGA.