5 Down, 45 To Go: Pennsylvania Has Now Joined The Multi-State Online Poker Player Pool, Another Small But Meaningful Step In The Fight For Online Poker Legalization In The USA

Big news for Pennsylvania online poker players! Governor Josh Shapiro has officially signed the agreement for the state to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA).   

Starting April 28th, online poker operators will begin integrating their platforms, allowing Pennsylvanians to compete against players from New Jersey, Michigan, Nevada, and Delaware.   

This expansion increases the player pool and prize potential, enhancing the online poker experience across participating states.   

What a grueling, grueling process it's been. I cannot believe it was April 15, 2011 when online poker was banned in the United States, and now 14 years later only 6 states have legalized it at the state level. 6! And of those 6, as of today, you can play in a combined player pool if you live in 5 of them. Poor ol' West Virginia is the odd man out...and even crazier, while internet poker is legal in WV, no operators have opened a site there because there wouldn't be a big enough player pool to support it. 

But now with 5 states joining forces and entering the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, could change be right around the corner? Probably not! Nope, I do not expect a domino effect any time soon. I've held out hope for far too long and it seems the states just do not care about online poker at all. It's mind blowing because they regulated DFS and sports gambling at the drop of a hat, but god forbid you can see a few flops in New York, oh the horror!

Look, long gone are the days of firing up PokerStars and playing people from around the world. And that's fine. But the fact the citizens of the United States of America, the land of the free and home of the brave, cannot play against one another is bat shit insane. Regulate this shit, tax this shit, and let us play poker online!

It seems the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, completely gets it. In this clip he literally says "if you don't want to play poker or gamble, nobody is making you.". Crazy how simple that is!

How do we make this guy president? Or put him in congress? Or on the Supreme Court. Or whatever he needs to do in order to hit the "legalize online poker in every state" button. Enough of this state by state thing, it's clearly not working. Just make it federally legal in all 50 in one fell swoop. 

It's taken 14 years to get 5 states playing together, so maybe before I die we'll have 10. Come on NY, just do it already, I don't got much longer.

PS: Dave still won't play me heads up. I got the table and chips and everything. It's never going to happen. Which is annoying because it'd be the easiest $20k I'd ever make.

I would take a buy-out of $10k right now so I can play the Main Even this summer. He's challenged me and/or accepted the challenge no fewer than 10 times now. Play or pay, Dave. Play or pay.