Michigan’s Governor has signed a bill into law that would allow online poker to be played across state lines.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed an interstate poker bill into law which will allow online poker games to be played across state lines.
Michigan may soon join the likes of Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey which all offer interstate poker games.
Michigan’s interstate poker bill
The bill, titled Senate Bill 991, is from the 2019-2020 legislative session and would allow for liquidity for poker games to be pooled with other states and jurisdictions, such as Native American tribes, that also offer the same activity.
The legislation was initially introduced by state senator Curtis Hertel and co-sponsored by Jeff Irwin, Erika Geiss, Dayna Polehanki, Paul Wojno, Jim Ananich and Adam Hollier.
The bill passed the initial Senate vote by 36-1 and then went on to clear the House with a vote of 85-16 on 30 December 2020.
Whitmer’s signing of the bill comes just over a year after signing bills legalising online sports betting and online casino gambling.
Online gambling launching soon in Michigan
Online sports betting and casino gambling is set to launch in the Great Lake State in the coming weeks after the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) approved 15 provisional licenses in December.
The MGCB issued approval to Betfair Interactive (FanDuel), Crown MI Gaming (DraftKings), Rush Street Interactive (BetRivers), Roar Digital (BetMGM), American Wagering (William Hill), PointsBet and Penn Sports Interactive.
Other operators to secure approval in December included Churchill Downs’ TwinSpires, The Stars Group’s Fox Bet product, Wynn Sports, GAN, Golden Nugget, Scientific Games’ NYX Digital Gaming arm and Parx Interactive.
Since then several other operators including Gaming Realms, Continent8, NetEnt and AGS have secured approval to offer sports betting in the state.
