Global Poker Leaving Michigan: Redemptions END Feb. 1

Sweepstakes poker site Global Poker has indicated that it will soon cease doing business with customers from Michigan. Existing users from The Wolverine State have until Feb. 1, 2024 to redeem their Sweeps Coins. On this date, affected accounts will be shut down.

Exit Planned in Advance

Though the final booting of Michigan customers will occur in the next few days, this action has been in the works at least since the latter half of October 2023, which is when Global's Michigan customers received the following email:

We are reaching out to let you know about an important upcoming change to our Terms and Conditions. As of February 1, 2024, players who reside in the state of Michigan will no longer be able to access or play on Global Poker.

We understand that this news may be disappointing and want to assure you this decision was not made lightly. We continually evaluate our business operations in the interests of all our stakeholders and after careful consideration have decided to take this course of action.

Your ongoing support and loyalty to our community are greatly appreciated, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for being an integral part of our journey.

What does this mean for you?

Effective November 1, 2023, you will no longer be able to purchase Gold Coins on Global Poker.

After this date, you can continue to play using any Gold Coins or Sweeps Coins remaining in your account until December 1, 2023.

From December 1, 2023, mail-in requests for free Sweeps Coins will no longer be accepted.

Any Sweeps Coins you have won prior to December 1, 2023 can still be redeemed for prizes up until February 1, 2024. After this date, you will not be able to make any further redemptions. Any redemptions you wish to make need to be lodged before February 1, 2024.

What does this mean for your account and data?

From February 1, 2024 your account will be deactivated and the personal data associated with that account will be retained to meet our legal statutory obligations. We take privacy and data protection seriously, and we will ensure that your information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our dedicated Customer Support Team at support@globalpoker.com, who are always happy to assist you.

Kind regards,

The Global Poker Team

Similar decisions were made regarding Global Poker's sister sites, Chumba Casino and Luckyland Slots, which have both also opted to abandon the Michigan social casino landscape. All three sites are owned and managed by VGW Holdings.

Michigan Legal Crackdown Responsible?

Although the exact reasons for ceasing to do business in Michigan were not fully elaborated by VGW, we can take a look at recent Michigan news and connect the dots to surmise why the company may have elected to move in this direction.

On Sept. 12, 2023, the Michigan Department of Attorney General issued a press release revealing that Golden Hearts Games had agreed to stop serving Michiganders. This firm offers casino gaming under a sweepstakes model, similar to how Chumba Casino works. Gaming regulators had been investigating Golden Hearts Games since August 2021 and determined that it was operating in violation of Michigan gaming laws. The company – facing the threat of a lawsuit – voluntarily agreed to stop offering its games in Michigan.

It's very likely that this incident played a role in VGW's October decision to stop accepting users from Michigan at Global Poker, Chumba Casino, and Luckyland Slots. It seems that VGW was very astute in reading the writing on the wall because the Michigan Gaming Control Board announced on Jan. 18, 2024 that it had sent cease-and-desist letters to three internet gaming companies, including VGW. The letter to VGW was sent on Dec. 5, 2023.

Executive Director of the Michigan Gaming Control Board, Henry Williams

According to the MGCB, VGW's violations included, “Conducting illegal gambling by offering an internet game in which a player wagers something of monetary value for the opportunity to win something of monetary value.” Under Michigan law, online gambling can only be offered by entities duly licensed under the provisions of the Lawful Internet Gaming Act (HB 4311). Neither VGW nor either of the other two targeted entities holds such licensure.

More About Sweepstakes Poker

Key to the way Global Poker and related sites operate is the sweepstakes model pioneered by VGW. Under this paradigm, Global Poker at no time conducts real money gaming. Instead, players purchase play money Gold Coins. These Gold Coins can never be redeemed or traded in for anything of value.

However, when Gold Coins are purchased, Global rewards its customers with Sweeps Coins. These Sweeps Coins are considered a free gift. After meeting certain reasonable playthrough requirements, customers can redeem their Sweeps Coins for cash at a 1:1 ratio.

Global Poker Website

Global Poker contends that Sweeps Coins are not purchased directly but are rather awarded as a kind of bonus whenever players buy Gold Coins. This means that individuals who play games with Sweeps Coins buyins are not really gambling because they're not using chips that they purchased.

Global Poker is careful to refer to “purchases” and “redemptions” on its website rather than “deposits” and “withdrawals,” strengthening its claim that the activity occurring on its servers is something other than gambling. The fact that Sweeps Coins can be obtained for free through a laborious mail-in process also strengthens Global Poker's legal arguments and is key to the idea that there's “no purchase necessary” to win.

However, the reality is that Sweeps Coins are awarded basically in proportion to how much money is spent on Gold Coins, and their redemption value is more or less equal to their face value. This makes it seem that this is just a thinly disguised ploy for hosting real money play, which is virtually identical to the games at other online poker sites.

Why Is Michigan Punishing Social Poker Rooms + Casinos

Persecutions of online gaming providers in the United States can often be attributed to the particular whims of individual politicians and prosecutors. Sometimes, elected or appointed officials seek to make a name for themselves by leading high-profile crusades against “vices,” like drugs, prostitution, and online gambling.

However, in other cases, the authorities engage in such activities as part of a coordinated economic strategy. This is often true in states with regulated internet gambling economies. By eliminating the competition, these attacks serve to drive customers to the state-supervised sites where their gaming action can be regulated and, more importantly, taxed. This appears to be the case in Michigan, which licenses both online poker sites and internet casinos.

Montana Residents Excluded Too

Near the middle of January 2024, Global Poker, Chumba Casino, and Luckyland Slots sent a message to their Montana players indicating that they too would shortly no longer be welcome to play. The timeline is as follows:

• Jan. 23: Montana residents will not be allowed to purchase Gold Coins past this date
• Feb. 22: Montanans will not be able to play with either Gold Coins or Sweeps Coins, and mail-in requests for free Sweeps from MT users will not be processed
• April 22: No more Sweeps Coins will be redeemable by Montana players, and they will not be able to access the gaming platforms

Regarding Montana, VGW's reasoning is more difficult to discern than it is in Michigan. There has not been any high-profile news regarding online social gaming in Montana lately.

What Does This All Mean?

We here at Professional Rakeback have long harbored doubts as to whether or not Global Poker's sweepstakes model would hold up in court: concerns that we delve into in our comprehensive Global Poker review. We have not yet seen any cases that have gone to trial to specifically answer this question, but Global Poker had already exited Washington and Idaho due to legal uncertainties surrounding its products in those states. Now Michigan and Montana have been added to the list of restricted jurisdictions.

By bowing to the threat or mere possibility of prosecution in several states, Global Poker is signaling that perhaps its own lawyers don't think its business model is as airtight as they would like us to believe. Many customers probably overlooked certain drawbacks of Global Poker, like its lack of crypto-currency support and cumbersome ID verification processes, because they were comforted by its contention that it was a fully legal online poker site. Now that we see the company pulling out of state after state, this confidence is becoming a lot more difficult to justify.

Other Online Poker Rooms Beckon

Of course, there are other online poker options besides Global Poker. If you're a player from Michigan who's looking for a new poker home, then check out this Michigan internet poker guide for a list of reliable sites that are ready to welcome you. We've also prepared a Montana online poker page for players from that state. If you reside elsewhere in the United States, then this rundown of the USA online poker scene might prove informative.