Interstate Online Gambling

Interstate compacts are important because the viability of the online poker economy relies on player traffic. Poker games cannot run without enough players because people play against each other, unlike casino games where players compete against the house. Though the Interstate Wire Act has been re-interpreted to allow some forms of online gambling, the DoJ still claims that the Wire Act makes Internet sports gambling illegal. Passed in 1961, the Interstate Wire Act continues to have a massive impact on the US gambling market more than fifty years later. Now, nearly 60 years later people wonder if the Wire Act will always be a roadblock to interstate online gambling in America. Whether the Act applies to all forms of gambling (or only sports betting) is currently the subject of a court in the First Circuit.

A piece of legislation aiming to correct an erroneous omission in the 2019 onlinecasino gambling law by allowing interstate onlinepoker cleared the House Regulatory Reform Committee on Tuesday.

1. Brian Sandoval and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell announced the first-in-the-nation deal on Tuesday. It creates a framework for regulating interstate gambling, and would eventually allow.
2. Online Poker Legalization in Michigan. In December 2019, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law the Lawful Internet Gaming Act (LIGA), allowing online gambling, including sports betting, fantasy sports, casino games and online poker. The approval provided a sigh of relief to Michigan players who were left disappointed in 2018 when then.

The bill, SB 991, would allow upcoming Michigan-sanctioned onlinepoker sites to pool their players in Michigan with their players in another state where the platform also offers onlinepoker, pending all regulatory approvals. The new law would allow the Michigan Gaming Control Board to enter into agreements for interstate onlinepoker. It would be up to the board, as the bill wouldn’t require the MGCB to do so or provide any timeline for reaching such an agreement with another jurisdiction.

Currently, only the onlinepoker network from Caesars/888, operational in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware, shares online liquidity. Caesars is Nevada’s only iPoker operator, while New Jersey has three.

Michigan’s SB 991 is supported by both the state gaming control board and Flutter Entertainment, the parent of PokerStars. PokerStars is live in New Jersey and is currently the only onlinepoker site live in Pennsylvania. It’s likely to be the first poker platform in Michigan, but it’s unclear when iPoker will begin.

Online gambling launch coming in mere weeks

It’s looking like late December is when Michigan will see its first sportsbooks and casinos launch over the internet and on smartphones. It’s unclear if onlinepoker will begin on the first day the other online options become available. It took months for iPoker to join the online gambling mix in Pennsylvania.

SB 991, which cleared a full Senate vote nearly unanimously in early October, could find its way to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk and receive a signature by the end of the year. The law passing doesn’t mean PokerStars or any other onlinepoker operator could start pooling players with another U.S. state right away. It would likely take some time for the nuts and bolts of that arrangement to be hashed out. Pennsylvania still hasn’t allowed PokerStars to pool players with its sister site in New Jersey.

Michigan may move much more quickly than Pennsylvania, but interstate onlinepoker won’t be available right away. There were no details given about a timeline for actually having active interstate onlinepoker during Tuesday’s committee hearing on the legislation.

One wild card in the whole process of allowing multi-jurisdictional onlinepoker is the U.S. Department of Justice. Under the Trump DOJ, the online gambling industry had concerns about potential enforcement of the 1961 Wire Act, a law that was re-interpreted during the Obama years in a way favorable to online gambling firms. With a Biden Administration set to take office in January, a federal crackdown on gambling industry activity taking place across state lines appears a non-concern. This could lead to Pennsylvania finally pursuing interstate onlinepoker, which its 2017 gambling expansion law allowed.

Michigan state Sen. Curtis Hertel, sponsor of SB 991, said Tuesday that “the only way it [online poker] really works is if you have a robust” player pool. For Hertel, there is no point to onlinepoker in Michigan if the platforms licensed by the state can’t share liquidity with their sister platforms elsewhere.

He’s right. Though the pandemic has been a big boost to onlinepoker in New Jersey, growth for the game lags behind other forms of online gambling. Liquidity is the name of the game.

Hertel’s bill would not allow any Michigan onlinepoker site to use a network that includes players located overseas. Sharing players internationally would still be prohibited for a regulated site.

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Michigan’s Senate approved the Interstate Online Poker Bill early in October, 2020.

The Bill is now to be voted upon by House of Representatives.

Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. introduced the Bill in June as Senate Bill 0991. The Bill would allow consumers in Michigan to compete against players in other regulated states across the US.

Interstate Online Gambling Rules

Michigan Lawful Internet Gaming Act would stand to be amended if the Bill becomes the law.

The Bill states that Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) may enter into agreements with other jurisdictions, including Indian tribes, to facilitate, administer, and regulate multijurisdictional internet gaming for poker, reported gambling.com.

Interstate Online Gambling Websites

MGCB executive director Richard Kalm said, “Once the rules go into effect, that will allow us to give licenses to both the operators and the platform providers. End of November, that’s our hope. But that will again depend on everything getting turned in, reviewed and approved. Then secondly, ultimately, what the operators and platform providers decide to do in terms of launching their product”, reported gambling.com.