Michigan Getting Closer to Online Poker Interstate Compact

Michigan appears to be preparing to join or form an interstate gaming compact for online poker as just last week the state gambling board moved forward in formalizing the process to offer multistate poker.

On March 16, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) posted a five-page document that identifies “potential tasks and considerations for operators and platform providers” looking to offer multistate internet poker.

“The Lawful Internet Gaming Act … provides that the Michigan Gaming Control Board … may enter into multijurisdictional agreements with other jurisdictions to facilitate, administer, and regulate multistate internet poker,” the document reads, further stating that the interstate internet gaming “must not include internet games other than poker.”

The same day, a letter “was sent to operators and platform advisers” with a link to the guidance information about multistate internet poker, MGCB spokesperson Mary Kay Bean told Michigan Gaming Review.

The move toward bringing interstate poker to Michigan is good news for the US online poker community as doing so would dramatically increase shared liquidity. If Michigan, with its population of 10 million, were to enter the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) with New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware, the shared player pool between these states would nearly double.

There are currently just two online poker operators in Michigan, BetMGM and PokerStars. Both have online poker sites in other states, as well. The document says that both would be allowed to “introduce a new platform in Michigan to support multistate poker or may migrate its entire poker operation to a platform located in another state.”

Operators that do not currently have a presence in the state would also be able to launch multistate poker in Michigan. Though other operators might crop up in the future, the only existing one that would fit this description is 888/WSOP.com.