The state could soon join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement
Pennsylvania State Rep. George Dunbar, who has actively been urging the governor to sign an executive order to enter into the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), recently introduced a bill to permit the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to join the gaming compact.
Dunbar enjoys playing poker himself and recently spoke with Twitch streamer and PokerNews ambassador Keith “AccidentalGrenade” Becker about the steps he’s taking to bring shared liquidity to poker players in the Keystone State.
The Republican lawmaker shared that he began playing poker as a child. “I’ve always been a poker player. Even as a little kid playing for pennies.” Dunbar began playing at online sites like Partypoker and Full Tilt Poker in the 1990s and “was pretty relatively successful then” before online poker was shut down nationwide on Black Friday.
“I had quite a bit of dollars tied up when Black Friday came, but the DOJ did make me whole eventually.”
Dunbar says his Black Friday experience motivated him to write HB 271 in 2017 to legalize casino games and regulate online poker in the state. Dunbar is now pushing for Pennsylvania to have a shared online poker pool with New Jersey, Michigan, Delaware, Nevada and West Virginia.
“If you are a poker player, it means a lot. I am a poker player, and there’s a huge difference between playing a $20 or $30 buy-in tournament with 600 people in it and a few thousand people in it,” said Dunbar. “There’s a world of difference there.”
“Shared liquidity is a big thing for poker tournaments,” he added. “Sharing that liquidity with other states makes higher payouts, higher win amounts. It’s very much like Powerball and the lottery.”
Emma Rodriguez is the Proofreader at the Big Blind, with seven years of experience and five years in online gambling. She plays a crucial role in maintaining content quality by ensuring error-free, reader-friendly information about the gambling industry.
