West Virginia legalized online poker in early 2019 but, to date, not a single site has launched in the state. However, a new move by the state could change that.
Today the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association (MSIGA) announced that West Virginia was joining its ranks, opening the door for online poker rooms in the state to compact with other states and pool players.
“I am pleased that our West Virginia iGaming providers will now have the opportunity to offer multi-state poker to our players,” said West Virginia Lottery Director John Myers. “This will greatly increase the potential pool of participants and thus allow our players to play for bigger winnings.”
The current list of states in the compact is as follows:
Nevada
Delaware
New Jersey
Michigan
Michigan was the most recent state to join the compact. PokerStars combined its Michigan player base with its New Jersey online poker site earlier this year. WSOP.com is live in Michigan but the site remains ring-fenced to the state for now.
WSOP.com does offer player pooling across its Nevada and New Jersey sites in addition to working with 888 in Delaware.
One state that does have legal and running online poker is Pennsylvania, however, the state has yet to join MSIGA. The issue currently sits with Gov. Tom Wolf.
Connecticut, like West Virginia, did legalize online poker but has yet to have a site launch in the state. Of the three operators, only FanDuel has connections to online poker through its Flutter sister company, PokerStars.
Now that West Virginia is part of MSIGA, it could make the state more attractive to operators that have, to date, not bothered with the market.
“We applaud the regulators and support the continued expansion of online poker in the United States. It’s a great way to get more players engaged,” said Luke Staudenmaier, BetMGM Director of Poker.
