After years of waiting and many delays, Pennsylvania online pker players will finally be joining players from Michigan, Nevada and New Jersey on the virtual felt.
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the agreement for Pennsylvania to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) this week, clearing the way for operators in the state to start sharing player pools in other MSIGA states where the companies are live. Pennsylvania formally accepted an invite to join the MSIGA in January.
“This is a commonsense step to support hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, grow our economy, and bring in more revenue to support our schools, our seniors, our small businesses, and more,” said Shapiro. “Three of our neighbors are already part of this agreement – and with this action today, we’re making sure Pennsylvania remains competitive in a rapidly growing online market.
Shapiro’s predecessor, Gov. Tom Wolf, spent his entire term considering the idea but taking no action. It took Shapiro more than two years after taking office to sign the measure.
Along the way, lawmakers went so far as to introduce legislation that would compel Shapiro to take action on the bill.
BetMGM first PA poker site to compact
BetMGM and BorgataPoker will be the first sites to go live with other states. The sites are set to share player pools on Monday, April 28 at 9:00 a.m. ET.
To celebrate the occasion, BetMGM Poker will offer a $35,000 freeroll on April 29 starting at 7:05 p.m. ET. In addition to cash prizes, the winner will also recive a $5,000 package to the BetMGM Poker Championship at Aria Casino in Las Vegas this summer.
“Pennsylvania represents the largest state to join the shared player pool and turbocharges our poker platform. This expanded player pool will allow us to deliver more games and bigger tournaments to our players. BetMGM Poker is ready to celebrate the growth of our shared liquidity network throughout the spring and summer in a variety of ways,” said BetMGM Vice President of Gaming Angus Nisbet.
PokerStars and WSOP could benefit in PA too
Other regulated online poker sites in Pennsylvania include WSOP Online, BetRivers Poker and PokerStars. While BetRivers Poker is currently only live in Pennsylvania, WSOP and PokerStars should benefit from the new state.
WSOP currently compacts players across Nevada, New Jersey and Michigan, while PokerStars shares player pools in Michigan and New Jersey.
West Virginia is another state that is a member of MSIGA but currently does not have any live online poker operators in the state.
