All Regulated US States to Share Poker Player Pools

Pete - Sunday, October 15, 2017, Written by- Sunday, October 15, 2017, Online poker

Some good news emerged as far as US online poker liquidity is concerned this weekend as it was announced on Friday 13th October that New Jersey has entered into an interstate compacy with Nevada and Delaware.

While Delaware and New Jersey already have an agreement for shared player pools, Nevada has, until now, remained isolated as a ring-fenced operation. Opening up their players to the other regulated states will give their players access to a much increased player pool and should increase the attractiveness of online poker on the whole across the three states.

According to Online Poker Report, New Jersey online casino revenue has been on an upward trend since launch, whereas their online poker offering "has had difficulty in finding its footing" and that the move to further increase player pool liquidity via the inter-state compacy, "will undoubtedly help the bottom line for iPoker in New Jersey."

The news came via a press release on Friday with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie annoucing the agreement with Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and their Delaware counterpart, Governor John Carney, saying;

“New Jersey has been a pioneer in the development of authorized, regulated online gaming, which has been a budding success since its launch in late 2013. Pooling players with Nevada and Delaware will enhance annual revenue growth, attract new consumers, and create opportunities for players and Internet gaming operators.This agreement marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for online gaming, and we look forward to working with our partners in Nevada and Delaware in this endeavor.”

Above: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was excited to announce the plans to share online poker player pools with both Delaware and Nevada in the near future

While the news will be welcomed by players across all three states, not all operators will necessarily benefit from the liquidity sharing. For example, although WSOP.com (the only operator currently legally regulated in both New Jersey and Nevada) are sure to benefit from the move, PokerStars is unlikely to see any returns as under Nevada internet gaming law the online poker behemoth is still regarded as a 'bad actor' (due to UEIGA infringements from operating from 2006-2011 in the USA) and as such will not be allowed to serve the state.

In fact, WSOP have already warmly welcomed the news, saying;

“We applaud the government leadership and the regulators in New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware for reaching this meaningful agreement. We will immediately begin efforts to take our existing Delaware-Nevada compact and add New Jersey to the mix by following the requirements established by the regulators so WSOP.com can share liquidity with all three states.”

As yet there is no fixed timeline for initiating the process of sharing player pools, although the Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman AG Burnett told Online Poker Report,

“The technology teams in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware are going to meet to discuss next steps. The timeline is to move toward integration ASAP.”