Welcome to the big game, Michigan players. The World Series of Poker’s official online room has added Michigan to its’ network, making it the United States’ largest legal and regulated online poker site.
Rebranded as WSOP Online, it becomes the first poker operator to pool players across three U.S. jurisdictions, and the migration took place just in time for the start of the WSOP and its online bracelet events.
This means players in Michigan will have 30 opportunities to win a bracelet while playing against those in Nevada and New Jersey. Last year, Michiganders played for seven bracelets.
The change also brings WSOP’s poker suite into the modern world, specifically on its mobile app where four-table capabilities and Omaha are now available.
“This platform upgrade is long overdue and is a big win for our players,” said Danielle Barille, Vice President of Online Poker at Caesars Digital in a press release. “The best is yet to come for WSOP Online tournaments, and we’re thrilled to bring Michigan players into the fold with Nevada and New Jersey, resulting in a better experience, more value, and the biggest prize pools of the year.”
The migration required players in Nevada and New Jersey to create a new username. There were some hiccups, as some users reported broken links and geolocation failures.
The site has until Saturday to get its stuff together, because that is the first of 30 online bracelet tournaments that are scheduled to take place this year (down by three from last year).
After that, a bracelet event takes place every Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday until July 21.
Here’s the complete schedule:
Michigan joined the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) last March, and it took more than a year for the company to get the players from these three states on one site.
That leaves players in Pennsylvania on their own island as they wait for their gaming control board and Governor to decide whether or not they should join America’s largest poker network.
It’s reported to be under consideration, but there has been no movement on it since Gov. Josh Shapiro was elected in 2022.
A State Rep. is also trying to get his colleagues on board by submitting a Bill that would, if approved, jump-start his state’s application to MSIGA, but it stalled in committee in March.
So while online players in Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan vie for 30 bracelets, Pennsylvanias will play for the same number of bracelets they have played for in the past: Seven.
And that schedule is a clear reminder of how the online poker consumer gets stiffed by the short-sited decision to embargo the poker sites to players within its borders.
Pennsylvania is now the only jurisdiction that has online poker rooms but doesn’t allow player liquidity. Its southern neighbor, West Virginia, allows online poker rooms, but the state’s population is too small to support a healthy online poker community.
That’s why West Virginia lottery officials applied to join MSIGA. And even though the application was accepted in May of 2022 — a year before Michigan — no online poker sites have stepped up and opened shop there.
