PokerStars US Network has confirmed the much-awaited shared liquidity between PokerStars NJ and PokerStars MI will take place “in the coming weeks.”
A planned server maintenance update will be held from December 12 to 13, impacting PokerStars NJ & MI clients. During this 48-hour-long downtime, all three verticals — poker, casino, and sports will be down.
The server maintenance will not affect Pennsylvania players, PokerStars clarifies. Pennsylvania has yet to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) and will remain separate from its impending NJ & MI player pool, at least for now.
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The upgrade is a necessary milestone to bring more games, bigger prize pools & guarantees in poker tournaments so New Jersey and Michigan poker players can compete against one another soon.
The operator says that the “major upgrade of the site” next week will allow for the operator to merge between PokerStars New Jersey & Michigan clients in the coming days.
“The upgrade is a necessary milestone to bring more games, bigger prize pools & guarantees in poker tournaments so New Jersey and Michigan online poker players can compete against one another in the near future,” the operator releases a statement.
Services are likely to resume on December 14 — although PokerStars NJ & MI will continue to operate separately for a few days. When the actual merger happens is unknown, but pokerfuse assumes that Michigan players can compete against New Jersey players once the holidays are over.
The server upgrade would mark a first step towards launching shared liquidity in the US. It will probably need approvals from the state regulators before it can proceed with the merger of the two states.
The confirmation by PokerStars comes just days after the operator dropped a big hint involving its US operations. While it did not mention the launch of shared liquidity in the US, pokerfuse rightly deduced that this hint could be related to the development discussed above.
Indeed, this has now finally been confirmed.
PokerStars will be only the second operator after WSOP to take advantage of the multi-state compact for online poker in the USA and the first to involve Michigan.
It also marks the first official confirmation by any operator since Michigan became part of the multi-state online poker compact back in May.
BetMGM is Also Gearing up for Shared Liquidity in the US
WSOP and BetMGM — the other two operators that have a presence in the Mitten State have remained quiet so far on the progress of shared liquidity between MI & NJ. However, the latest development involving BetMGM indicates the operator could also be gearing up for the merger between BetMGM NJ & BetMGM MI poker clients.
BetMGM recently upgraded its New Jersey client to align with the latest version in Michigan and followed it up with the deployment of SPINS in NJ — to match with the game offerings of Michigan. Both updates certainly show BetMGM’s preparations for launching shared liquidity in the US market.
However, no official acknowledgment has been made by either of the operators.
The two-day planned server maintenance involving PokerStars MI & NJ clients will run from December 12 to 13. Services are likely to resume on December 14. The operator assures players that those opted into the 25 Days of Rewards will be compensated with Chests once the operations are resumed. Tournaments scheduled as part of the Christmas promotion may be postponed until later.
Shared liquidity between PokerStars NJ and PokerStars MI could occur after the holidays. We might start the new year with a brand new network.
Are you ready for the new combined MI-NJ player pool? Start by signing up for PokerStars. Or head to our comprehensive Guide to US Multi-State Online Poker to learn more about what this merger means for players and the industry.
