It appears that the long wait for online poker players in the US may soon be coming to an end, as PokerStars and other platforms have released an announcement detailing their upcoming shared player pool between New Jersey and Michigan. On Friday, an official note from PokerStars was posted on Twitter by Jeremy “Jermz” Sissman offering insight into the launch, which will involve some downtime for maintenance on Dec. 12-13.
This marks a shift from the current state of affairs, wherein different states have their restricted pools instead of being part of a larger network. While there is still much speculation about how this effort will unfold, it seems that this positive development is indeed becoming more palpable with every passing day.
The shared liquidity market for online poker has certainly expanded in the US this year. WSOP.com is currently operating a shared liquidity market in Nevada, New Jersey, and 888poker in Delaware.
The company also operates a platform in Michigan and Pennsylvania, while BetMGM is offering ringed-in platforms in those same locations while they work toward shared liquidity expansion with WSOP.com by linking up in Michigan.
Additionally, PokerStars is now seeing some traction after recently announcing their American expansion efforts, with the “25 Days of Tournaments” series taking place all month and regulatory approval either recently granted or nearing completion for the expansion. Exciting times are ahead for the game of poker!
By joining forces, both the New Jersey and Michigan markets can offer a whopping double of players than just one state could on its own. Let’s take a peek at the population of both areas:
With news that PokerStars will close down its online casino and online sportsbook operations for two days to upgrade its shared platform, many online poker players in the US have declared their support for the move.
Previously, only sports betting had seen a rapid expansion of its reach in the US market compared to its online counterparts, but lately, there has been a surge of legislative activity surrounding possibilities for legalizing and regulating both casino and poker games within certain states.
In particular, New York is one of those states recently taking a promising stance on the issue, aiming to start working towards making it happen as early as next year. With all these steps showing the progress being made towards loosening up regulations around online poker in America, players may be more optimistic than ever about what 202 could bring.
