Michigan has been approved to join New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware in the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement – an online poker liquidity sharing platform. As the most populous state to join the agreement, Michigan brings another 10 million to the equation. Just to put things into perspective, the other three states combined have a total population of 12.8 million.

Over the years, the existing platform struggled as it couldn’t sustain a viable online poker ecosystem.  With few players, the tournament prize pools, choice of games and stakes remained limited.

Other states which legalized and regulated online gambling over the years, such as Pennsylvania, hoped to join the agreement but then got scared off when the Department of Justice started zigzagging about its opinion about the 1961 federal Wire Act.

But Michigan, which launched online poker in 2021, has decided to take the risk and issued a statement last week, saying that it has been approved the join the multistate compact.

It’s hoped that Michigan joining this agreement will provide a serious shot in the arm for online poker in the US.

As per Rebecca Satterfield, Manager of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association and the Internet Gaming Manager for the Delaware Lottery: “Multi-State Internet Gaming Association welcomes Michigan to its ranks, along with its nearly 10 million residents, who can now avail themselves of a full array of interactive gaming among the Association’s member states.”

“The Association continues to be forward thinking and welcomes the interest of additional gaming jurisdictions in becoming party to the Agreement.”

With the Ontario opening its online gaming market early next month, popular poker brand, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has announce that it has paired with GGPoker Network to launch an online poker room in the Canadian province.

In a fresh news release, it was stated that WSOP.ca will offer local online poker players “access to exclusive WSOP tournaments and satellites, all running on its award-winning, next-generation software.”

Players can also look forward to a host of promotions and bonuses to bolster their bankrolls.

Another advantage of becoming a member of this online poker room is that players will be automatically enrolled in the Caesars Rewards loyalty program. Points which they earn can be used across the vast network of Caesars properties, and can be utilized for food, entertainment and accommodation, as well as gaming. It’s definitely a win-win for all.

One of the global ambassadors for the GGPoker Network is Daniel Negreanu, himself a born and bred Ontarian.

He said that he was thrilled that two of poker’s greatest brands have come together to launch WSOP.ca and offer the local poker community the ideal platform to play online. 

“You’ll be seeing exclusive WSOP rewards and tournaments, running on GGPoker’s amazing app – what’s not to love about that?” he said.

The Run it Once online poker platform, founded by professional poker player Phil Galfond, is heading to the US market, after it was acquired by the software group, Rush Street Interactive.

The exact details of the deal are yet to be disclosed, but it is understood that Run it Once will integrate its software on the Rush Street platform.

Galford confirmed that deal, which he said had been 18 months in the making. He said that he had spoken with many different potential partners, before settling on collaboration with Rush Street.

“RIO Poker created a platform that people loved, with features and innovations that the poker world was excited about, but we also heard things like ‘if only they could iterate on their software faster’ or ‘I’d move all my volume to RIO if they were bigger’,” said Galford.

“Well, now we are bigger – much bigger. And now we add to our existing tech team the expertise and experience of those who have built huge poker platforms in the past. I’m extremely excited about what we’ll be able to accomplish together.”

Run it Once (RIO) claims to be the world’s leading poker strategy community where players can follow pros as they’re walked through hands they’ve played to reveal both cards and strategy behind their moves.

Some of the biggest names in the online poker industry are part of the platform, including Jason Koon, Sam Greenwood and Patrick Cronin.

At least two online poker operators have been hit by fines in Lithuania after they were accused of breaking advertising laws by the country’s gambling authority.

Olympic Casino Group Baltija and Gambling Strategy Group were each told to pay a fine of EUR 25,000 after they uploaded information about a poker tournament, the Fisherman’s Challenge. They were told that their act constituted a breach of new advertising and marketing laws introduced last year in the country.

The poker tournament was organized in partnership with both companies and therefore they were both being held responsible for breaching the laws (Article 18 (1) and Article 201 (1)).

This is not the first company that has met the wrath of the Lithuania Gambling Authority. Earlier this year, Amber Gaming, operator of the online gambling site 7Bet, was fined over EUR 31,000 for violating some the laws. Around half of that was for gambling advertising that was deemed illegal, and the rest for entering into remote gambling agreements with citizens outside of the country.

Enlabs was also fined EUR 11,000 for encouraging its clients to gamble via email, an act which the authority says also violates the 2021 marketing laws.

It appears that Lithuania’s gambling authority has upped the ante on gambling law crackdowns and operators are starting to act more cautiously as a result.

PokerStars, subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment, has told its players and media partners that it intends terminating its services in the country of Georgia by March.

The Georgian government intends making drastic changes to its online gambling industry, significantly altering business conditions for groups operating in the country.

PokerStars contacted players and told them to withdraw balances in their accounts by the end of the month.  The group said that it would honor bonuses and tournament ticket repayments for players who need to close their accounts.

The Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili approved proposed legislation which will see online gambling services taxed by up to 70%.  Also, the minimum age to play online will be changed to 25.

The government claims that hundreds of millions of dollars have been “exported out of the country” and spent by citizens at online gambling sites.

PokerStars Georgia Players Have Until March 1st

Players who hold accounts at PokerStars’ Georgian site have until March 1st to withdraw their funds or else they risk losing their money.

Flutter, however, will continue running its Adjarabet.com site and the group confirmed that it will “continue to offer its full range of products in Georgia.”

It is expected that more gambling companies will withdraw from the Georgian market as regulations become stricter.