PA Poker News May Update: Governor Josh Shapiro Addresses Poker World After Joining MSIGA
Hi! I'm Keith Becker, PokerNews Ambassador and Pennsylvania native, here with a PA poker update for May 2025. It's an exciting time in America for the game we all know and love, and I'm excited to be bringing you state highlights every month.
What are the big issues and stories on everyone's minds? Let’s get into it.
The headline story this month is undoubtedly Pennsylvania officially joining the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). This monumental step means that online poker players in PA can now compete with player pools from other states: New Jersey, Nevada Michigan, Delaware, and West Virginia. The benefits are clear: larger player pools, more exciting tournaments, and bigger prize pools.
Governor Josh Shapiro also noted how this move is set to boost competition, drive economic growth, and support important state programs. I've personally wanted this for so long, folks. I campaigned for it, I rallied people to campaign for it, and I'm so HAPPY multi-state poker is here!
Governor Shapiro also did the poker world a solid by doing an interview with PokerGO's Mori Eskandani, a Poker Hall of Famer. Check it out below:
With MSIGA now live, BetMGM wasted no time launching its shared player pool across Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey on the first day. To kick things off, they hosted a $30,000 freeroll in which player "bigbootyboy" took down the top prize of over $4400 and a $5K Aria package. To clarify, that's an almost $10K prize. For free. Multi-state poker! BetMGM also announced its biggest tournament series ever, the BetMGM May Millions, that'll run from May 8-11. If you've been waiting, this could be the perfect time to jump into the action.
On the World Series of Poker front, Pennsylvania players will be thrilled to know that Caesars Entertainment also added PA to its WSOP Online network on the first day. Because WSOP is currently the only operator in Nevada, this means players can participate in the first-ever four-state shared liquidity network and prepare for the upcoming 2025 WSOP Online Bracelet series starting May 31.
Pretty unique series here features some online live hybrid events with live final tables in Vegas. WSOP stunned players honestly by being so quick to join the shared pool, as in the operator's time so far in Pennsylvania, it's been notoriously stagnant and unresponsive. But the rising tide of multi-state poker has seemingly even raised that boat.
Now, switching gears to live poker for just a moment. The PokerStars Philadelphia Open at Live! Casino and Hotel wrapped up in spectacular fashion. Edward Leonard took down the $1,100 Main Event, outlasting a massive field of 1,154 entries and claiming the lion's share of the $1,107,840 prize pool. Leonard pocketed $147,806 after a three-way deal and credited his stamina and mental focus for the impressive 18-hour final day performance.
And speaking of PokerStars, they have thus far dominated the Pennsylvania online poker scene with exciting tournaments and promotions after being the very first operator to market in the state in 2019. However, many players are currently wondering why PokerStars has not taken the leap immediately and joined the shared player pool enabled by MSIGA. The addition would undoubtedly boost tournament traffic and prize pools, creating even more thrilling opportunities for PA players. So does PokerStars have some particular reason or incentive NOT to join multi-state just yet? Are they planning something MASSIVE for when they finally do join? For now, there's nothing to go on from Stars' public relations or marketing, so ... we wait. And we hope to hear from them soon.
And finally, the newest operator in Pennsylvania, BetRivers, has officially confirmed plans to launch a multi-state online poker network, signaling the potential for now the first ever five-state shared liquidity pool in the US. Parent company Rush Street Interactive has stated that BetRivers is actively working to combine player pools in states like New Jersey and Michigan, and with PA and them holding exclusive market access in Delaware, and also being available in West Virginia, that makes five.
The platform has already built a loyal following in Pennsylvania, supported by their innovative "Rakeback Revolution," ongoing software updates, and ambassador campaigns featuring poker greats Phil Hellmuth and Phil Galfond. If all goes as planned, BetRivers could emerge as a major player in the multi-state poker market by the end of this year.
Poker is surging in America, and I'm thrilled to be your ambassador here in Pennsylvania. For more information, check out our PokerNews Pennsylvania page here, and be sure to follow me on socials to stay in the know. I’ll be back next month with another update!
Keith Becker is an American poker player based out of Pennsylvania. A former member of PokerStars Team Pro Online, Becker is now a PokerNews Ambassador and Streamer. Becker has been streaming poker on Twitch since Day 1 of regulated poker in Pennsylvania and has led a grassroots movement for PA to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement.
*Lead image courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services.
