Michigan Added to Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

Michigan remains one of the most progressive states in the country for legal real money gambling. The state’s industry consists of both retail and online sports betting and casino gambling. You can now add multi-state online poker to that list.

Earlier in April, the gaming regulatory bodies for poker in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey added Michigan to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA).

These three states previously formed the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association LLC as a joint gaming entity. Registered in Delaware, the company oversees the gaming interests of its members as they relate to online poker.

Other internet gambling interests such as casino games and sports betting are regulated on a state by state level. Poker remains one online gaming options that include interests across state lines. The primary reason for a multi-state poker organization is to create a larger shared player pool.

Going back to 2014, Delaware and Nevada first joined forces to create a shared pool of poker players. The group added New Jersey to the mix in 2017. Given the nature of poker, this pooled approach was designed to enhance the overall level of play.

At that time, the federal government got involved in the matter through the Wire Act. The US Department of Justice stated this applied to all forms of gambling as far as multi-state commerce. This issue brought into question the legality of MSIGA.

In a separate matter, New Hampshire challenged the Wire Act as it pertained to multi-state lotteries such as Power Ball or Mega Millions. The courts ruled in favor of New Hampshire in this matter in 2021.

The federal government has not pushed the issue when it comes to multi-state poker. However, it has not backed down on its stance. Realistically, the argument would probably not hold up in a court of law.

Nonetheless, other states have been hesitant to join MSIGA because of this lingering doubt. Pennsylvania is another highly progressive state for gaming. Yet, the Keystone State has refrained from joining this organization.

Relatively new to legal online gaming, Michigan has taken a different stance on the matter. Launch in January of 2021, the state’s Lawful Internet Gaming Act (LIGA) did not include provisions for multi-state gambling agreements.

Michigan state lawmakers amended that agreement by passing a separate bill. This piece of legislation gave the Michigan Control Board the power to enter into multi-state agreements. However, this was limited to online poker only.

Adding Michigan to the MSIGA did run into a few glitches along the way. The state was expected to join the organization by the end of 2021. Better late than never, the official approval was announced on April 6.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the only multi-state online poker operator in the market. After WSOP officially entered Michigan, the path to join MSIGA was clear. Given the larger base of online poker traffic, WSOP has been able to use its exclusivity as a major selling point.

Adding Michigan to the mix with the other three states could change this situation. Other operators such as PokerStars and BetMGM have expressed an interest into expanding its poker offerings across all four states.

Written by Dave Schwab, our US sports betting industry expert.

The featured image for this post was sourced on Getty Images.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab