Nevada And Delaware Begin Sharing Of Online Poker Player Pools

According to representatives from WSOP.com, Delaware and Nevada have entered the “soft launch” phase of player pooling between the two state’s respective online poker markets:

Just received confirmation from @BillRini of @WSOPcom that NV and DE are in the soft launch phase of merged player pools. #OnlinePoker

— Donnie Peters (@Donnie_Peters) March 24, 2015

The news was previewed by 888 Holdings earnings report this morning, which cited the “[s]uccessful deployment of shared poker network across states of Delaware and Nevada in March 2015 creating significant competitive edge for 888 and its operating partners.”

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed the interstate online poker agreement in February 2014 .

Impact could be substantial

While Delaware’s traffic numbers are (to put it kindly) modest, that doesn’t mean the impact of player pooling will necessarily be so.

As I wrote a few months ago, the shared player pool could have a cascading effect that ignites player interest and stretches the peak time for online poker traffic in both states.

And, of course, the larger impact is in the execution of the pooling itself, which sets the stage for a number of other states to get involved.

Not everything will be shared

According to Seth Palansky, the Vice President of Communications for Caesars Interactive/WSOP.com, there will be some limitations imposed on players originating from Delaware.

For instance, Palansky told PocketFives.com’s Dan Cypra:

From @SethPalansky re: NV/DE compact: "DE players won't be playing in WSOP satellites even when compact goes live. U still play on DE site."

— Dan Cypra (@cypradn) March 24, 2015

In addition to WSOP satellites, it appears some promotions at WSOP.com will also be off-limits to Delaware players:

Details about DE/NV from WSOP: "Almost everything will be linked but promotions specifically for WSOP players will remain exclusive to WSOP"

— Dan Cypra (@cypradn) March 24, 2015

888 Nevada yet to launch

For now the pooling will be between WSOP in Nevada and the 888-powered sites in Delaware. Both utilize the 888 platform. Delaware has three separate online poker brands, but all feed into a single player pool.

Eventually, AAPN Nevada – 888’s network – is expected to launch with an 888 brand, a TI (Treasure Island) brand and potentially a Golden Gaming brand.

There’s no firm date for the launch of AAPN Nevada, but one would expect that the kickoff of sharing between Delaware and Nevada would move that process into a higher gear.

AAPN Nevada will then share some – but potentially not all – players with WSOP Nevada along with pooling players with Delaware’s single online poker room.

What caused the holdup?

There are likely two reasons MSIGA has required over a year to implement.

The first holdup was likely caused by interstate online poker’s inherent competitive advantages for certain operators.

The second reason MSIGA took over a year to implement is one of logistics.

Getting the two states’ online gaming platforms pooled is more complex than the metaphorical flipping of a switch. Most notably:

1. Both the Nevada Gaming Control Board/Nevada Gaming Commission as well as the Delaware Lottery would need to iron out any differences in regulations that exist between the two jurisdictions.
2. Both regulatory bodies would have to test the software to see if the measures put in place to insure each state was credited with players originating from within their borders worked properly.
3. Caesars Interactive (which is only active in Nevada) and 888 (which is vested in both Nevada and Delaware) would have to agree on the policies put in place.

There would also be other administrative issues to work out, from which games (some or all) would be pooled, and who would handle player complaints between players from two different states.

In the end, there would be numerous people, in multiple jurisdictions, that would have to sign off on each and every change.

Rumors of interstate pooling began last weekend

These revelations come on the heels of a progressive buildup to interstate pooling that began in mid-March. According to social media rumors, some Delaware online poker players were being prompted to change their screen names.

The impetus for the name change would likely be the presence of duplicate user names in Delaware and Nevada. Because this would only affect a small percentage of Delaware players the requested screen name changes seemed to fly somewhat under the radar.

Further fueling speculation of an imminent interstate launch, the three Delaware online poker rooms were taken offline overnight for maintenance on March 14:

@OPReport @SteveRuddock @SethPalansky @DivergentGames @wsop maybe this is it? #nvdepokerpool #whoshutsdownonsatnight pic.twitter.com/XnOmqJk2YR

— markredding (@markredding) March 15, 2015

Maintenance would be absolutely necessary in order for the sites’ software to be updated for interstate pooling to commence. However, there was no indication WSOP.com’s Nevada software was down for maintenance during this period.

Additionally, Delaware players were being greeted with new software and the following message that seemed to indicate interstate pooling was on its way when 888’s Delaware sites returned:

Taken together, these pieces of evidence fueled speculation that Delaware and Nevada were preparing to initiate their interstate agreement and merge the player pools of the three online poker rooms in Delaware and WSOP.com in Nevada, all of which are powered by 888 software.