There Was A Step Forward In The Online Poker World But For Some Reason We Still Have A Long, Long Way To Go

The fact online poker isn't legal in the United States is still one of the more outlandish, blasphemous, ridiculous things going. It makes no sense at all. Everything else that should have been legal all along is being legalized, most notably weed and sports betting. But for some reason, online poker is being left behind. It makes zero sense at all. None. There is no logical argument against it, it's quite easy to tack it onto sports betting bills, but as of right now it's only legal in Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. That's it. Some states are getting there- I think West Virginia might be next. But still, not great that a decade after Black Friday, the day the government shut down online poker in the USA, it still hasn't gotten even close to returning.

But the good news is Michigan joined the MSIGA, aka the interstate gaming something or other, which allows them join player pools with NV, NJ, and DE. If you aren't in that, you only play against players in your own states. And obviously the more states that join together, the better the online poker games are. For some reason PA still only plays against PA, but hopefully that changes soon.

The alternative to playing on a regulated, legal site in the US is sketchy at best. The biggest operator, ACR, has big games but is riddled with issues including bots and mult-accounters. I've long said if you want to put a few bucks on there and fuck around, by all means, but don't put on more money than you are willing to lose. Just last week they had another scandal where players were being stolen from, and apparently it was an inside job:

Not great!

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