Online poker players from West Virginia will now have the opportunity to play versus players from Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, and New Jersey. According to the source, the West Virginia Lottery has announced that the Mountaineer State has joined the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) closed by and among the aforementioned jurisdictions to facilitate online poker games among players from the states that are parties to this Agreement.

Multi-State Poker Facility:

West Virginia Lottery Director John Myers reportedly commented: “I am pleased that our West Virginia iGaming providers will now have the opportunity to offer multi-state poker to our players. This will greatly increase the potential pool of participants and thus allow our players to play for bigger winnings.” The West Virginia iGaming operators that intend to use the latest opportunity and offer multi-state poker will be reportedly required to submit a letter of intent to the state Lottery. They would also need to secure certain approvals from both the West Virginia regulators and those from relevant member states to be able to launch the multi-state gambling facility.

The Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement originates from 2014 when the states of Nevada and Delaware closed the first deal of this kind, as reported by the source. These states were authorized by a respective bill to facilitate patrons based within the geographic boundaries of two jurisdictions to participate in legal forms of online gaming. The pattern was followed by New Jersey and this state became party to the agreement in 2017, with Michigan joining in 2022.

Exceeding Boundaries:

The affairs and issues referring to the performance of the agreement among the member states are reportedly managed by a Delaware corporation Multi-State Internet Gaming Association LLC. As reported, Michigan, Nevada, West Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey currently use the agreement to offer online poker to member states. The multi-state poker facility represents another option for operators and regulators to facilitate online games and exceed geographic boundaries to share the benefit of the online potential that would otherwise remain bound to land-based casino.

As reported by a separate source, there are currently only five land-based casinos offering live poker in West Virginia with Hollywood Casino being the largest with a 16-table room. With the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement now signed, the West Virginia players will have much more opportunities to avail of a unique legal facility to weigh their poker skills with online players from other member states.