US online poker cupboard still pretty bare
It appears that the United States will soon have its third interstate online poker network. Now, that’s not nearly as exciting as adding states to the mere handful that have legalized online poker, but it’s still something. Competition is good. During an investor presentation on Monday, BetMGM, without much discussion, said that shared liquidity between states in which its poker rooms operate is “imminent.”
This means that in the near future – when that is exactly, we don’t know – online poker players in New Jersey and Michigan will have another option for cross-border play. BetMGM has three brands in New Jersey – BetMGM, partypoker, and Borgata Poker – and one (BetMGM) in Michigan. With the network launch, players on all four will be able to sit at the same tables.
As for the competition, PokerStars also has a New Jersey-Michigan network and WSOP has shared traffic among New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware. Unfortunately for Delawareans, their state will soon be kicked off of WSOP’s network. WSOP’s sites, including the three non-WSOP-branded poker rooms in Delaware, use 888’s platform, but the state is switching its contracted provider to Rush Street Interactive. So, since the Delaware sites will soon use different software, they won’t be on the interstate network.
Future possibilities
WSOP will likely add Michigan to its multi-state network at some point. It has an online poker room there, but it uses a newer version of 888’s software called “Poker 8” and thus isn’t compatible with the other states on the network.
BetMGM, WSOP, and PokerStars all have online poker rooms in Pennsylvania, one of the largest markets in the country, but Pennsylvania has not joined the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) in order to share liquidity with the other states, so its an online poker island.
BetMGM could also potentially add Nevada and West Virginia to its network, though it remains to be seen if it even wants to do so. It has a license in Nevada and already has an online casino in West Virginia, but both states have relatively small populations (Nevada ranks 33rd in the US, West Virginia ranks 40th), so there hasn’t been any desire to expand. An interstate network lowers the risk, however, as any new online poker room will have a built-in player base at launch.
West Virginia just joined MSIGA last month, but no operator has been willing to launch an online poker room there, again because of its population. The state’s inclusion in MSIGA could indicate that regulators have been in talks with operators, though it could also just be an effort to tempt operators to set up shop.