The West Virginia Lottery is contemplating joining the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). But not until one of the existing nine operators offers multi-state online poker.
An official told Poker Industry PRO this could happen if Michigan joins the club, adding more operators. Of the nine online operators, only two—BetMGM and Caesars—have a multi-state poker platform.
““If one of our operators came to us and said they wanted to offer multi-state poker, I’m sure we [would consider it]. Once Michigan joins, I’m sure there will be a lot of interest,” David Bradley, deputy director for security at the West Virginia Lottery, told Poker Industry PRO. He added that the agency is “definitely interested” in joining MSIGA. The agency confirmed as much back in July 2021.
Bradley pointed out that currently, only the WSOP/888 U.S. Network can fully take advantage of the opportunity for shared liquidity that MSIGA provides—it’s the only network with online poker rooms in the other three members of the compact—Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey. Since 888 isn’t live in West Virginia, a request for the state to become the compact’s fifth member won’t be coming from them.
Bradley said West Virginia had not officially applied to join the compact, and there was no timetable to do so.
“It’s kind of a wait-and-see game to see what’s out there. Right now, we could join and be part of the compact, but we wouldn’t be able to offer the game,” he said. “We’re in tune with it, we’re monitoring it, and we have the interest in it.”
Under West Virginia’s gaming laws, the state’s five casinos and horse racetracks can each have three skins for online casino gaming and sports betting. The three main gaming facilities in the state are the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, the Mountaineer Casino, and the private Greenbrier Resort.
Hollywood and Greenbrier each have three partner operators. The former is partnered with Barstool, DraftKings, and PointsBet, while the latter has partnerships include BetMGM, FanDuel, and Golden Nugget. Meanwhile, Mountaineer is partnered with BetRivers and Caesars.
Once Michigan’s operators are authorized for multi-state online poker, BetMGM could connect its player pool in Michigan with those in New Jersey that are on the partypoker US Network.
Caesars could also potentially ask the West Virginia Lottery to move forward connecting to the WSOP/888 US Network and the poker rooms on WSOP NV, WSOP NJ, and 888poker NJ.
BetRivers, which acquired a poker platform and announced plans for a future rollout, could also push for West Virginia to join the compact.
Two remaining casinos in West Virginia—Mardi Gras and Wheeling Island—use IGT software to operate Betly sportsbooks.
