Delaware and Nevada Combine Online Poker Markets

Delaware’s online poker market was heading for a drawn out collapse before launching the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) with Nevada. Coming just a week ago, the agreement has already helped to improve the fortunes of the Delaware online poker market. MSIGA has resulted in Delaware and Nevada combining their player pools to create a larger combined market between the two states.

Turnaround for Delaware Online Poker

Online gambling was first legalised in Delaware in November 2013, but online poker performance has been on a steep slide since then. Alarmingly, there was revenue of just $27,000 this January past, representing a 68.7% decline from January 2014.

Industry statistics from PokerScout are already indicating a turnaround since the start of the year. After plenty of instances when fewer than 10 users were playing at cash tables, Delaware’s performance has turned dramatically in only seven days. Over that period, Delaware’s cash tables managed to attract 140 users for cash games. Those figures are just a little behind Nevada and New Jersey’s main poker sites: WSOP/888 (NJ) – 190 users; WSOP (NV) – 170 users; and Party Borgata (NJ) – 160 users.

Agreement Driven by 888 Software

MSIGA was entirely feasible because poker sites in Delaware and Nevada shared the same software, which is provided global online gambling operator 888. A similar arrangement occurred earlier in 2015, with 888 partnering with WSOP in New Jersey. Ultimately, that strategic partnership led to 888 and WSOP moving ahead of Party Borgata, as you can see from the user numbers in the list above.

Nevada also appears willing to partner with other states like Delaware. However, that would require new states to legalise online gambling at a time when this issue is under scrutiny at the Congressional level. That being said, it would appear that the foundations are slowly being laid for a wider online poker market in the US.