Governor Gretchen Whitmer Signs Comprehensive Online Gaming Bill

Published on December 20th, 2019 5:05 pm EST

Earlier today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation that will officially bring legal and regulated online poker to the state of Michigan.

In addition to online poker, Michigan residents will also be getting legalized sports betting, online casino games and a framework for the regulation of daily fantasy sports.

The bills are expected to bring in tens of millions of dollars to the state's coffers, which is badly needed money.

According to multiple media reports, online poker licenses will be available to the state's commercial casinos and tribal casinos - these companies will need to partner with online poker sites or software developers in order to offer their own branded poker rooms.

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With this news, Michigan becomes the fifth state in the United States to offer legal online poker, joining the likes of New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Online poker is spreading much more slowly than legal sports betting in the United States, and the reason is simple - money. Sports betting is much more of a lucrative business in the United States compared to online poker, and while states have been falling over themselves to roll out sports betting legislation, online poker bills have been a much slower go.

Online poker numbers in the United States have been underwhelming so far, so you can safely assume that Michigan will be looking to join a liquidity share agreement in order to make their games more enticing. There is currently a liquidity agreement between New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware, and I would assume that Michigan will want to join as well.

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There is no word as of yet as to when the first online poker rooms will be up and running in Michigan.

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Filed Under: Other Poker News