Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement: Past, Present & Future

The Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, or MSIGA for short, is a brief document of fewer than 20 pages that was initially just a minor detail in the world of online poker. However, with the growth of regulated, state-licensed interactive poker rooms in the United States, this document has begun to assume a more important role in the industry.

Since its inception, additional states have joined the Agreement, including a couple that are very prominent players in the online poker industry. With this increase in participation, some foresee the MSIGA being a key component of U.S.A. online poker going forward. Therefore, it's worth examining this agreement in detail to understand how it works and how it may facilitate the growth of regulated online poker sites for Americans.

We've done the hard work of researching what the MSIGA says, which states have joined it, the various poker sites and networks that operate according to its stipulations, and the prospects for other states to join in the future. We're happy to share what we've discovered, so read below for a comprehensive account of what this agreement is all about.

What Is the MSIGA?

The Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement is a compact, which is kind of like a treaty between sovereign nations except that a compact involves sub-national entities, like states. Several of the states that have launched licensed online poker regimes have negotiated the terms of the MSIGA in order to promote the robustness of their virtual poker endeavors. To be specific, Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania are parties to the agreement.

Members of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement

What the Agreement does is allow players in any one of the signatory states to engage in online poker play against their counterparts in the other states. So, for example, someone can log on to a regulated poker site in New Jersey and compete with individuals not just in the Garden State but also people in, let's say, Michigan. This assumes, of course, that the poker site in question does business in New Jersey as well as Michigan and has taken the necessary technical steps to combine its player pools in both states.

What Purpose Does the MSIGA Serve?

In effect, this compact creates a shared player pool across the affected states. This is beneficial for the games because people like to log in and see bustling lobbies and tables full of players. Tournaments can grow larger and feature boosted guaranteed prize pools because they're counting on traffic from multiple states to hit their participation targets rather than having to rely on the ring-fenced players of just one state.

We have already seen increases in poker liquidity among the states that have signed the Multi-State Gaming Agreement. As more states join, we expect this trend to continue and become even more pronounced.

Poker Networks Utilizing the MSIGA

As we've noted above, in order to benefit from the MSIGA, a poker operator must be licensed to transact in multiple member states. It must also have deployed the necessary technical arrangements to permit cross-border play by its customers. Here is a list of the networks and sites that fulfill these conditions:

WSOP Online

WSOP Online formed a multi-state network with its former partner 888 Holdings although all branded 888 poker sites have exited the American market, leaving WSOP as the only member of the network. WSOP Online is active in the states of Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, forming the first four-state regulated internet poker network in the country.

In Nevada and New Jersey, WSOP Online is a partner with Caesars Entertainment, the owner of the World Series of Poker and the host of the prestigious annual live poker series. In Pennsylvania, WSOP Online is a partner of Harrah's Philadelphia, and in Michigan, it operates under the gaming license of Turtle Creek Casino.

WSOP averages 280 ring game players simultaneously active according to poker traffic tracking site GameIntel. One of the competitive advantages of this network is its tournament schedule. Some of these tourneys are related to the World Series of Poker, like online bracelet events and satellites to live WSOP festivals. Such features are a result of the close relationship between WSOP Online and Caesars and are not available, or are much less prevalent, at competing rooms.

BetMGM/Borgata

The three providers BetMGM Poker, Borgata Poker, and partypoker are active in several markets although they are all skins of one another and share poker traffic between them. BetMGM, Borgata, and partypoker have been present in New Jersey for quite a while, and when Michigan joined the MSIGA, BetMGM Michigan was added to the shared liquidity pool. Another expansion came in April 2025 when Pennsylvania became a part of the MSIGA, and BetMGM PA and Borgata PA wasted no time in joining their counterparts in the other two states.

The average ring game player population at the BetMGM-related brands is around 500, making it the clear leader in U.S. regulated online poker.

partypoker NJ operates together with sister sites Borgata Poker and BetMGM Poker, and they all conduct business under a license granted to the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City. BetMGM MI uses a license from MGM Grand Detroit. In Pennsylvania, BetMGM is partnered with Hollywood Casino in Grantville while Borgata PA is run in conjunction with Rivers Philadelphia. Notwithstanding their relationships with these two land-based casino enterprises, both BetMGM and Borgata Pennsylvania reward their players through the MGM Rewards program rather than the rewards systems in place at their B&M partners.

PokerStars USA

PokerStars launched sites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan once its license applications were approved in each state. On January 1, 2023, PokerStars saw fit to combine its New Jersey and Michigan sites into one shared player pool.

According to GameIntel, the traffic of the combined entity averages around 150 simultaneously active ring game players. Its liquidity pales compared to the average of 2,100 cash game players on the global PokerStars .com site.

PokerStars Michigan is a joint effort between The Stars Group and Odawa Online, the interactive arm of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. They operate the Odawa Casino Resort in Petoskey and the Odawa Casino in Mackinaw City both of  which are near the northern end of the state's Lower Peninsula. In New Jersey, PokerStars is partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.

BetRivers Poker

BetRivers Poker (a brand owned by RSI that uses software from Phil Galfond's now-defunct RunItOnce online poker site) first launched in Pennsylvania having opened for business in October 2024. It then announced its expansion into three other states in June 2025: Michigan, Delaware, and West Virginia. In these latter two states, it is the only operator with an active regulated internet poker product.

BetRivers Pennsylvania operates using a license from Rivers Casino Philadelphia while the company is partnered with Little River Casino Resort in Manistee, MI. In West Virginia, BetRivers operates under an agreement with Mountaineer Park in New Cumberland. BetRivers' arrangements in Delaware are a bit unusual in that it is the sole tech provider partnered with the Delaware Lottery and all three of the state's racinos to provide online poker, casino, and sports betting products.

Standalone, Ring-Fenced Poker Sites

Despite the institution of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, there still remain several standalone state-licensed sites. At these rooms, each state's players are ring-fenced and can only compete against their neighbors within the same state.

Here's a list of all the state-licensed U.S.A. internet poker sites that do not combine their traffic across state borders. For the sake of clarity and organization, we have divided them up by state.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania passed online gaming legislation in October 2017, but delays in crafting the poker regulations and awarding licenses meant that the first Pennsylvania-licensed online poker site opened for business in November 2019. Since then, several other competitors have taken to the field, and a couple of them have managed to merge their traffic with other states.

PokerStars

PokerStars PA has approximately 120 players on average filling up its cash games. It operates its cardroom under a license provided through Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, PA. Now that Pennsylvania has joined the MSIGA, PokerStars management is no doubt planning on folding its Pennsylvania traffic in together with its cardrooms in New Jersey and Michigan, but this development has not yet taken place.

Nevada

Though Nevada has seen its share of regulated online poker sites in the past, the closure of Ultimate Poker in 2014 and Real Gaming in 2016 left Caesar's WSOP.com as the only viable licensed internet poker destination in the state for many years. This remained true until January 2024 when Real Gaming decided to try again with a new, albeit extremely limited online poker product.

Real Poker

Launched in conjunction with Rampart Casino and four other brand partners (Plaza Casino, Legends Bay Casino, Fandango Casino, and Terribles convenience stores), Real Poker offers a very limited form of 5 Card Draw poker. These are tournaments that last a single hand and don't feature any betting apart from an initial ante from each contestant.

Players are paid out according to the tournament results and can also receive bonuses for achieving a hand of Royal Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Three of a Kind, or Jacks or Better.

Real Poker is not operational in any state besides Nevada. Due to the idiosyncratic nature of its non-traditional poker product, it might not even qualify for licensure in some of the other MSIGA states. Therefore, it's very unlikely that it will be able to combine traffic in any meaningful sense in the foreseeable future.

Online Gaming States That Haven't Joined the MSIGA

There's nothing in either state or federal law that suggests that membership in the MSIGA is mandatory for all igaming states. Indeed, when regulated online poker and casino firms first appeared in the country, there was no MSIGA for them to join.

Right now, there's only a single jurisdiction that has legalized online poker but has not yet joined the MSIGA: Connecticut.

Connecticut

The newest state to have passed online poker regulation, Connecticut hasn't yet seen any instate internet poker sites open up. Connecticut is on the smaller size, in terms of both area and population, and so it's probably not a priority for leading poker firms although this situation could change if it signs the MSIGA.

History of the MSIGA

Three states led the way in legalizing licensed online gaming within their borders: New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada. Delaware actually passed the necessary legislation in 2012, living up to its nickname as The First State, followed by Nevada and New Jersey in 2013. By the end of 2013, interactive poker sites had begun dealing virtual games in all three states.

It soon became apparent, though, that the offerings available in each of these states were lackluster when compared to what was available in the rest of the world. Experts highlighted the ring-fenced nature of these poker sites as a major factor limiting their growth. With players in each jurisdiction having to participate in games restricted to people in the same state, there simply wasn't enough liquidity present to grow any room beyond a certain critical mass.

Nevada and Delaware Take Action

It was with the future of the industry in mind that Delaware and Nevada crafted the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement and at the same time created the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association to manage the affairs of the parties to the Agreement. In February 2014, they signed this compact, which allowed online poker providers in more than one state to pool their players across both states in order to boost traffic figures and lead to a more sustainable internet poker ecosystem.

The fact that the contract to run Delaware online poker was awarded to a single company, 888 Holdings, meant that this operator was basically the only one that could benefit from the MSIGA. In March 2015, 888 joined its three DE sites to WSOP.com Nevada, creating a single multi-jurisdictional player population combining the four poker rooms.

With Delaware poker responsible for around 8 cash game players on average and WSOP NV counting 152 at this time, the impact of the Agreement was pretty limited. Delaware was the big winner as its traffic, barely enough to populate one table, was basically multiplied by 20 while Nevada saw just a minuscule bump in numbers.

New Jersey Enters the Picture

Meanwhile, New Jersey's regulated poker sites were demonstrating success to the point that single sites in New Jersey were often larger than all the rooms in Nevada and Delaware combined. Clearly, The Garden State was the big prize for the leaders of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association to bring onboard.

It took a while, but New Jersey joined the MSIGA in October 2017. By May 2018, the technical details of implementing NJ traffic sharing had been worked out, and so the state joined the combined player pool at this time.

Bringing New Jersey into the fold was a big coup for the MSIGA. Nevertheless, the benefits were confined to a single organization, 888, which was still the only one that managed an online poker presence in more than one of the signatory states.

New Internet Gaming Licensed States

After five years with little news on regulated U.S.A. online gambling expansion, several new states began to regulate poker over the internet. Pennsylvania did so in October 2017, followed by Michigan and West Virginia in 2019 and Connecticut in 2021.

It generally takes some time from the passage of igaming legislation until the first sites are up and running. Pennsylvania, Michigan, and West Virginia have seen licensed internet poker rooms appear, but as of August 2025, we are still waiting for them to launch in Connecticut.

Michigan Approved to Join MSIGA

For a while, there was much speculation as to whether Pennsylvania or Michigan would be next to join the MSIGA. This question was answered in April 2022 when the news came that Michigan was accepted by the existing members to become the fourth state in the Agreement. Pennsylvania became the sixth in April 2025.

All of the internet poker rooms in Michigan have consolidated traffic across state lines in accordance with the provisions of the compact. Meanwhile, three of the four PA ones have done so although eventually, we expect PokerStars PA to join its peers and begin sharing traffic across state lines.

West Virginia Joins the Party

In November 2023, West Virginia became the fifth party to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. Its sole operator, BetRivers, now benefits from the shared liquidity of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Michigan to enhance its online poker sites.

Mildly good news was followed by minor bad news though because about a month after West Virginia's accession to the agreement, Delaware was effectively removed from it. This isn't because Delaware got kicked out or abandoned the compact; rather all of its MSIGA-compatible online poker sites shut down.

This was a consequence of Delaware switching tech providers from 888 to RSI. However, RSI deployed its BetRivers Poker product to the state in June 2025, and now Delaware is back on the map as far as regulated internet poker is concerned.

Future of the MSIGA

Starting as a very limited agreement between two small states, the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement has gained more importance as it has added new members. The accession of Michigan and Pennsylvania to the MSIGA has the potential to kick off a new mini-poker boom because they have greater populations than the original parties to the Agreement.

For what it's worth, the biggest internet poker destinations for most American players are still offshore rooms. There's nothing in the law that criminalizes playing at these sites even though they are not explicitly legal like the state-regulated ones are.

Until the MSIGA really gathers some steam, offshore brands are probably the best solution for many residents of the United States. To learn more about them and how you can sign up and play, check out our guide to U.S.A. online poker.

Frequently Asked Questions

Like many legal documents, the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement has many subtleties that are not immediately apparent. If you still have questions about it, look below where we have gathered the answers to some common inquiries about the MSIGA.