Maine has officially joined the list of US states to have legalized online poker, opening the door for regulated real money games for the first time. But legalization alone does not guarantee a thriving poker market, especially in one of the smallest states in the country.
With a population of just 1.4 million, Maine immediately ranks among the smallest states with regulated online poker in the US. That reality raises a practical question: which operator, if any, is best positioned to make online poker work in a state of this size?
One operator has already signaled it sees Maine as a viable market: BetRivers Poker.
“Maine is a market we have strong interest in, particularly given our track record of expanding online poker into smaller and underserved jurisdictions,” said Jesse Wilke, Director of Poker Marketing at Rush Street Interactive (RSI), speaking to Poker Industry PRO in an exclusive.
A Small State With a Unique Structure
Under Maine’s newly enacted framework, exclusive igaming rights are granted to the state’s four federally recognized tribes. Each tribe may select a single online platform provider. The state’s two commercial casinos are excluded from online gambling.
While three tribes currently partner with Caesars for sports betting and one works with DraftKings, igaming agreements are handled separately from sportsbook partnerships. A single platform provider could therefore support igaming, including online poker, for more than one tribe, depending on how partnerships are structured.
BetRivers has operated within a similar framework in Delaware, where it powers online gaming for Delaware Park, Bally’s Dover, and Harrington Raceway under a single statewide system.
In theory, that structure could allow up to four separate operators to launch online poker in Maine.
At the same time, Maine’s modest population means not every major brand will necessarily prioritize the state for a product like online poker. Even if Maine were to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), shared liquidity alone would not automatically ensure that operators choose to deploy poker there.
Take West Virginia, for example. Despite being a member of the interstate online poker compact, only BetRivers Poker has gone live in the Mountain State.
That precedent suggests Maine could follow a similar path, with BetRivers Poker well positioned to launch even in a smaller market environment.
BetRivers is currently live with online poker in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Delaware, and West Virginia, making it only the second operator after WSOP to establish a four-state footprint. A New Jersey launch is expected next, which would expand its presence to five states and give it the broadest regulated US footprint of any operator. If Maine were added, it would become BetRivers’ sixth online poker state, further widening its lead.
The speed of its expansion is equally notable. Just two years ago, the platform had not yet launched. A year ago, it was live in only one state. Today, it operates in four states and is on the verge of a fifth, expanding into new jurisdictions faster than any other US online poker operator has ever managed.
But more importantly, it has demonstrated that smaller states can outperform expectations when managed correctly.
Delaware is the clearest example. After RSI took over the state’s igaming contract in 2023 and BetRivers Poker went live in Delaware, online poker revenue materially outpaced prior performance.
According to publicly released Delaware Lottery data, poker revenue has reached roughly three times the level generated by the previous supplier. Online casino revenue increased even more dramatically, rising nearly tenfold over the same period.
West Virginia offers another good example. Despite being a relatively small market, BetRivers launched poker there while others held back.
The pattern is consistent: BetRivers enters jurisdictions where the model works long term, even if they lack headline population numbers.
Poker as a Foundation — Not a Side Product
A key reason BetRivers may be particularly suited to Maine lies in how it views poker within its overall strategy.
Poker remains a smaller revenue generator compared with online casino and sports betting. Across much of the industry, marketing investment naturally gravitates toward those higher-margin verticals, with poker often expected to perform within tighter constraints. That reality has shaped how many operators allocate resources.
BetRivers, however, frames poker differently. It views poker as a driver of ecosystem stability, not merely an incremental revenue stream.
That philosophy is also reflected in BetRivers’ Rakeback Revolution program, an additional rewards structure for poker players that returns a significant portion of rake based on volume. While the rewards are earned through poker play, they are often most effectively redeemed across other verticals, including casino and sports betting.
In practice, that creates a built-in bridge between poker and the rest of the platform. Players generate value at the poker tables and are incentivized to deploy those rewards elsewhere within the ecosystem, reinforcing engagement across verticals rather than siloing poker as a standalone product.
That distinction becomes more pronounced in smaller states. In markets with a limited population, poker does not need to dominate revenue share to be strategically valuable. Instead, poker can function as a high-engagement product that attracts serious players, strengthens retention, and feeds cross-vertical activity into casino.
“We have also demonstrated that operating a high-quality online poker business in a small market attracts a broader base of online casino players, which is valuable for growing an operator’s online casino market share,” Wilke further told PRO.
“In fact, we’ve seen that online poker helps us to acquire and retain casino customers. We’ve grown regulated poker faster than any other U.S. operator by focusing on markets where liquidity, stability, and long-term player engagement matter more than headline size. We view poker as a foundational product—one that not only sustains a healthy poker ecosystem but also supports broader online casino growth—and that model is especially well suited to markets like Maine,” Wilke added.
That philosophy helps explain why BetRivers has entered states like Delaware and West Virginia, even when those markets are not obvious headline opportunities. By incorporating smaller jurisdictions into a broader multi-state network and leveraging poker’s cross-sell impact into casino, the company strengthens its overall ecosystem rather than treating poker as an isolated vertical.
If Maine follows a similar trajectory, poker would not simply be another gaming option on a menu for BetRivers. It would form part of a broader platform strategy, one designed to sustain both the poker tables and the casino offering over the long term.
