PokerStars Introduces New Multi-State Player Pool Sharing to Michigan

Players at PokerStars Michigan and New Jersey can prepare for a massive upgrade to how they play in the near future. With a license for shared liquidity between both states already granted, the operator could announce pool sharing any time soon.

It recently hinted at this development while preparing clients for a major two-day downtime on their site. While this downtime signals inconvenience for most players, the aftermath will definitely bring better outcomes. You can expect multiplayer competitions, terrific prize pools and the best poker games across state lines.

PokerStars has become the first poker room operator to introduce pool sharing in Michigan. As far back as May 2022, Michigan was incorporated into the Multi-State Internet gaming Agreement (MSIGA) to facilitate liquidity sharing. This agreement makes it possible for operators to launch player pool sharing between multiple states, a feature that PokerStars Michigan is now taking full advantage of.

As part of plans to set the player pool sharing feature in motion, PokerStars announced that there would be a two-day downtime on all its platforms. The announcement was made on the 9th of December via the official Twitter handle of PokerStarsUSA. It was expected that the downtime would affect casino, online poker and sports betting platforms in Michigan and New Jersey.

According to the announcement, the upgrade was meant to last between December 12-13. A new tweet from the handle on the 13th of December indicated that PokerStars platforms in NJ and MI “are back up and running.”

This recent post also confirms suspicions that the update was geared towards completing the sharing liquidity process. Players were encouraged to await more updates as PokerStars works “to bring New Jersey and Michigan poker players together.” However, till now, the specific time frame for the pool sharing is yet to be revealed.

Pool sharing is generally beneficial to state revenues, players and operators. Being PokerStars’ first player pool across available states in the American market, the expectations are quite high. Potentially, the merged market brings together up to 19 million players.

Once the merged pool feature is fully implemented in Michigan and New Jersey, players in both states will be able to compete against one another in online poker rooms. 

As the official report stated the “major upgrade of the site” was necessary to “bring players more games, bigger prize pools and guarantees in poker tournaments…”

Not only that, but pool sharing also boasts some impressive prospects for shared liquidity of the operator in the states involved. With the implementation taking place during the festive season, there’s no doubt that PokerStars is on course for a surge in player engagement. And on the other hand, poker lovers will stand a chance to compete for larger prize pools and against a bigger audience than before.

For a long time, pool sharing had been restricted in the US. Prior to Michigan joining the pack, Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey were the only state members of MSIGA. As it stands, PokerStars is the only operator taking advantage of shared liquidity in Michigan, ahead of WSOP and BetMGM which are also major operators in the state.

There is no concrete information to confirm if WSOP and BetMGM have player pool sharing features in the works for Michigan players. This is surprising, considering that both operators have launched shared online poker liquidity in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware. Particularly, WSOP.com introduced this feature to its players in the three states as far back as 2018.

Nevertheless, this development signals a healthy development for the MSIGA in the country. Other brands will be left to focus on improving the shared pools experience for their players when they eventually adopt the feature.

Expectations are also high for the MSIGA to incorporate Pennsylvania into the agreement for multi-state liquidity sharing. PokerStars, WSOP.com and BetMGM currently operate in Pennsylvania. So, it may not take too long before expansion efforts will bring the state under the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association.

PokerStars is definitely on the right track and their players will thank them for it. Their servers are fully operational in both states and we can expect an official announcement of the liquidity sharing over the holidays.