West Virginia Joins Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement
Online poker players from West Virginia will now have the opportunity to play against players from Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, and New Jersey. This news comes after the West Virginia Lottery announced that the state has joined the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) alongside the aforementioned jurisdictions. This agreement will enable online poker games among players from the participating states.
West Virginia Lottery Director John Myers expressed his satisfaction with this development, stating, “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.”
In order to take advantage of this opportunity and offer multi-state poker, West Virginia iGaming operators will be required to submit a letter of intent to the state Lottery. They will also need to secure approvals from both the West Virginia regulators and those from the relevant member states to be able to launch the multi-state gambling facility.
The Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement was first established in 2014 when the states of Nevada and Delaware closed the initial deal of this kind. This allowed patrons within the geographic boundaries of the two jurisdictions to participate in legal forms of online gaming. New Jersey joined the agreement in 2017, followed by Michigan in 2022.
The agreement is managed by a Delaware corporation, Multi-State Internet Gaming Association LLC, and is currently used by Michigan, Nevada, West Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey to offer online poker to member states. This represents another option for operators and regulators to facilitate online games and expand beyond geographic boundaries to share the benefits of online potential.
West Virginia currently has only five land-based casinos offering live poker, with Hollywood Casino being the largest with a 16-table room. With the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement now signed, players in West Virginia will have many more opportunities to play online poker with others from different states. This unique legal facility will enable them to test their skills against a wider pool of players.
