Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has signed an agreement making the Keystone State the sixth member of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) for online poker, significantly expanding opportunities for the estimated 150,000 online poker players in the state.
The addition of Pennsylvania, which becomes the largest state in the shared liquidity market, expands the total pool of online poker players by more than 50%. The interstate compact now covers over 38 million Americans across six states, including New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware, West Virginia, and Michigan.
"This is a commonsense step to support hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians, grow our economy, and bring in more revenue to support our schools, our seniors, our small businesses, and more," Governor Shapiro said in a statement. "Three of our neighbors are already part of this agreement – and with this action today, we're making sure Pennsylvania remains competitive in a rapidly growing online market."
Players will have access to larger prize pools without requiring an increase in buy-in amounts, addressing a key concern for the poker community, which had universally advocated for the state to join MSIGA.
BetMGM and Borgata Poker will be the first operators to take advantage of the expanded player pool, with their shared liquidity launch scheduled for Monday, April 28 at 9:00 a.m. ET.
To celebrate the occasion, BetMGM Poker announced it will offer a $35,000 freeroll tournament on April 29, with the winner receiving a $5,000 package to the BetMGM Poker Championship at Aria Casino in Las Vegas this summer.
"Pennsylvania represents the largest state to join the shared player pool and turbocharges our poker platform," said Angus Nisbet, BetMGM Vice President of Gaming. "This expanded player pool will allow us to deliver more games and bigger tournaments to our players."
While BetMGM and Borgata will be the first to launch, other operators in Pennsylvania are expected to join the interstate compact soon:
PokerStars - Currently shares player pools between Michigan and New Jersey
WSOP Online - Already operates across Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan
BetRivers Poker - Currently only available in Pennsylvania
West Virginia, which is also a MSIGA member, does not currently have any active online poker operators.
The agreement comes after years of delays. Governor Shapiro's predecessor, Tom Wolf, considered joining MSIGA throughout his term but never took action. Even after Pennsylvania formally accepted an invitation to join in January, it took several more months to finalize the agreement.
The delays were so significant that state lawmakers had introduced legislation that would have compelled the governor to take action on interstate poker.
Pennsylvania's gaming industry, which includes 17 retail casinos and 22 online casino gaming sites, employs over 15,000 people and generates approximately $2.7 billion annually in tax revenue. The state ranks first among commercial gaming states in the U.S. for tax revenue production.
This revenue funds reductions in school property taxes, purchases from the agricultural community, and grants for projects across all 67 counties in the state.
For poker players, the interstate compact promises enhanced competition, larger prize pools, and a more robust poker ecosystem that could help reduce unregulated play on offshore sites.