Michigan joins Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware for iGaming shared liquidity

The State of Michigan has now been admitted to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association (MSIGA), the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced on Wednesday. The Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement was first entered into by Nevada and Delaware in 2014 to share liquidity among patrons participating in legal forms of iGaming within the geographic boundaries of the jurisdictions.

Michigan’s entrance to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association is dependent on the full execution of the Agreement by the state. The Great Lake State will become the fourth member of the association: in 2017, New Jersey became the third party to the agreement, expanding the association’s shared liquidity to full online casino gaming.

“The Multi-State Internet Gaming Association welcomes Michigan to its ranks, along with its nearly 10 million residents, who can now avail themselves of a full array of interactive gaming among the Association’s member states,” said Rebecca Satterfield, Manager of the Association and the Internet Gaming Manager for the Delaware Lottery. “The Association continues to be forward-thinking and welcomes the interest of additional gaming jurisdictions in becoming a party to the Agreement.”

The Association, a Delaware corporation, manages the affairs of member states that are party to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. Currently, Michigan and Nevada offer online poker to member states, while Delaware and New Jersey offer a full array of online gaming.

PRESS RELEASE: The Multi-State Internet Gaming Association announces the entrance of the State of Michigan as a party to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. More here: pic.twitter.com/Gw1o70g8rU

— Nevada Gaming Control Board (@NevadaGCB) April 6, 2022

The agreement was initially signed to permit poker players from Delaware and Nevada, which were formerly required to be physically within the borders of the state to play, to meet and compete against players from one state while remaining in the other. Other jurisdictions have the option to join as well, provided they approve online gaming within their state.

The deal created the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association and the Multi-State Internet Gaming Board, tasked with governing the MSIGA. Each member state elects a representative to the board, which is in charge of approving new members, games and modifications to the original agreement.

The MSIGA has now welcomed a new member that reported very positive results thus far in its online gaming endeavors. Michigan’s sportsbooks and online casinos reported about $4 billion in sports bets and more than $1 billion in gross gaming revenue from iGaming in 2021, their first year of operations, a debut among the best in U.S. history.

For the past year, Michigan books produced $3.97 billion in online and retail wagers combined, $319.5 million in gross revenue, and $13.6 million in state taxes. In terms of online casinos and poker rooms, the state became at the time the third in U.S. history to generate more than $1 billion in annual revenue -and the first to do it in its first year- after generating $121.8 million in gross gaming revenue in December.

“It took time for online sports betting to truly ramp up, but online casinos have flourished from the very beginning,” said in January Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network. “Few saw Michigan hitting $1 billion in revenue over the first year, especially considering that no state had ever reached that level before. To do it in year one has been impressive, creating a significant stream of tax revenue from the state along the way."