Pennsylvania Bill Introduced For Online Poker CompactPlan Would Bring Shared Liquidity To Market |
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Pennsylvania may soon be joining the country’s Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), allowing for online poker shared liquidity markets with other states. The Keystone State may be late to the party, but with almost 13 million people, it would be a nice boost to the player pool.
Rep. George Dunbar® has introduced the bill allowing the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to join the interstate gaming compact.
“I have always thought it was a really good idea,” Dunbar told Poker Industry Pro. “Liquidity is a big deal in poker.”
Boost To Interstate Compact
The effort comes as Dunbar also noted that Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) could also sign an executive order for the state to push toward entering the MSIGA. The compact currently includes Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, and West Virginia. However, no operators are currently offering online poker in Delaware or West Virginia.
Currently, only two operators are offering interstate online poker. PokerStars pools players in Michigan and New Jersey while WSOP.com groups players in Nevada and New Jersey, although that also included Delaware until that market saw a change in operators that left poker players out of the game for now.
If one operator ever went live in all possible states, including Pennsylvania, the combined markets could create a possible player pool from a total population of 38.3 million people. Here’s a look at the population of each state:
● Pennsylvania – 13 million
● New Jersey – 9.3 million
● Michigan – 10.1 million
● Nevada – 3.1 million
● Delaware – 1 million
● West Virginia – 1.8 million
New York legislators are also currently considering legalizing online gaming, including poker. Adding the Empire State could bring another 19.8 million people, for a total possible poker state population of 58.1 million. Even more states are also considering online poker and gaming legislation, including Maryland (6.2 million people) and Hawaii (1.4 million people).
Dunbar told Pokerfuse that he believes the governor isn’t aware of the issue and would sign the bill. Former Gov. Tom Wolf (D) wasn’t interested in the issue, Dunbar said. So far, the plan seems to have bipartisan support.
“It’s always bipartisan, all gaming legislation works like that,” Dunbar told Pokerfuse.
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