The world of online poker has been changing rapidly in the United States and will continue to do so for some time. The legislation in the USA involving online casinos has moved in recent years and it is now in the hands of each individual state within the country to decide on the legalisation of online poker.
At the time of writing, players in New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Delaware can enjoy playing online poker legally. For people residing in those states, you will find a good selection of online poker websites available, many of which have been In business for over a decade. That’s great news for players in the states of New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Delaware but it leaves a huge number of US states without any legalised online poker games.
With that in mind, what states will legalise poker next?
Michigan and West Virginia appear well poised to make the playing of online poker legal in the near future. In fact, both states have passed legislation to make online poker legal but have yet to launch any websites. West Virginia officially became the 5th state in the US to legalise online poker and did so back in March 2019. We expect to see the launch of online poker projects in West Virginia by 2021 and it is an extremely exciting time for poker players in the state.
In Michigan, online poker legislation was signed in December 2019 and the state is set to follow in the footsteps of West Virginia by offering products in 2021. The case of Michigan is interesting because having passed an online poker bill back in 2018, the outgoing governor of Michigan at the time decided to veto the bill at the end of his term in office. However, this was soon turned around and the millions of people living in Michigan will soon have access to online poker games.
However, even when Michigan and West Virginia begin offering online poker product, it means there are still millions of people around the United States who do not have access to legal online poker games.
Interestingly, one of the leading online poker providers, PokerStars, have an agreement in place with Eldorado Resorts. PokerStars already provide their services in New Jersey and Pennsylvania but could soon be available in several other states including Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio. States such as these in the USA will need to pass legislation to offer online poker services but with the agreement between PokerStars and Eldorado Resorts, they should be able to act quickly when this happens.
For online poker fans in the states highlighted above, hopefully there is some good news just around the corner. With New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Delaware all operating online poker websites legally and without any issues, there should be no reason why other states in the country cannot follow suit.
