BetMGM Ramping Up Poker Ops as Pennsylvania Joins Multistate Compact

^{Legal online poker is slowly beginning to proliferate across the map of the United States, with Pennsylvania the latest to join MSIGA. (Image: Casinos.com)}

Beginning next week, a long-rumored move will take place that makes for the largest regulated online poker player pool in US gaming history. Pennsylvania will join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), pooling its players with the other five members of the internet gaming compact (Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, and West Virginia). 

Reflecting this change, one of the prominent poker operations in Pennsylvania, BetMGM, will look to ramp up its online poker operations ahead of a live event later this year in Las Vegas. 

BetMGM to Merge Operations in PA, NJ, MI

After Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the appropriate paperwork to allow the state’s gaming control board to move forward with the MSIGA, BetMGM wasted little time in promoting its upcoming poker offerings. 

In the three states that BetMGM currently has live poker operations – New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania – online poker tournaments will be run that serve as satellites (allowing winners to get into larger tournaments for a cheaper price). This will all lead up to the inaugural BetMGM May Millions, which will run from May 8-11. 

“Pennsylvania represents the largest state to join the MSIGA and turbocharges our poker platform,” BetMGM VP of Gaming Angus Nisbet said during the announcement of the upcoming promotions. “This expanded player pool will allow us to deliver more games and bigger tournaments to our players.” 

BetMGM Poker Ambassador (and four-time World Poker Tour champion) Darren Elias noted, “It’s been amazing being part of the tremendous growth of BetMGM Poker…adding a large market like Pennsylvania provides the opportunity to compete against more players and for larger prize pools.”

The upcoming events on BetMGM Poker will all feed toward a live tournament that will come at the end of June. The BetMGM Poker Championship will run from June 30 to July 4, and the newly compacted market will send 100 players from its online operations. 

These online satellite tournaments are running from now until June 22 (on Thursdays and Sundays at 9:15 PM) and offer a $3,500 seat into the BetMGM Poker Championship, a five-night stay at the host ARIA, travel allowances, and SWAG from BetMGM.

Compact Long Time Coming – But Where Does It Go?

Pennsylvania was a holdout on joining the MSIGA because its market was large enough to sustain itself. With a population of over thirteen million citizens, they were larger than any other state that has passed casino gaming or online poker regulations. Only Michigan, with its ten million Wolverines, could compare in size to Pennsylvania, with the other states in the MSIGA with tremendously smaller markets. 

But where does the MSIGA go from here?

Many online gaming companies have alliances with land-based casinos, such as MGM Resorts or Caesars Entertainment, which allows them to cross-promote their products. Poker is one of the biggest cross-promotions, with online poker sites providing players access to major tournaments (such as the Caesars alliance with WSOP.com). After Pennsylvania’s inclusion in the MSIGA, however, there are no new markets to conquer that would be added to the alliance. 

In the States, 38 states have embraced some form of online gaming, with most of these regulatory options in sports betting or daily fantasy sports (DFS). Those numbers do not fall in line with online casinos or poker, though; only seven states allow for online casinos (an inactive Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia), while six of those allow for online poker (Nevada does not allow online casino gaming).

Without other states offering such gaming options, what will be the future of MSIGA? Florida is an option, but the regulations in the Sunshine State do not allow the Seminole Tribe (the monopoly holders of gaming rights) to negotiate to enter a compact. Other states, such as New York or Illinois (both offer sports betting), have entertained passing online casino gaming and/or poker, but no movement forward by either of these states does not bode well. 

The two remaining major states, Texas and California, have long been eyed as potential markets for expansion. In both states, however, there has been inaction on the part of the legislature (Texas) or infighting among the gaming factions in the state (California). It is not anticipated that this status will change at any point in the future. 

It is a significant moment for online gaming in the United States, which was created in 2014 as a way for online gaming states to legally combine their individual player pools. The move by Pennsylvania to join the MSIGA brings the total potential customers to almost forty million. Without more states to join the compact, however, it could spell the end of any future expansion of the MSIGA and a cap on the number of players who can participate in the casinos or the poker games.