New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced a deal that will allow online poker operators in his state, Nevada, and Delaware, to share player pools.

The first week of shared online poker liquidity on WSOP and 888 branded sites in New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware has been nothing short of momentous. Cash game traffic has skyrocketed, to the point where games across many No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha stakes are running around the clock. The agreement has been signed, between the regulators, for online poker to share liquidity between Italy, France, Spain and Portugal: To date, all the voices claim that it is a positive thing, is.

A shared liquidity agreement to grow online poker in New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada has been reached. (Image: pokernews.com)

This is good news for poker players in these states who are fed up with constantly having to wait to get into a game.

When the new deal goes into effect, there should be more games available on poker sites in these states because there will be more players.

The agreement, approved by the outgoing governor Christie, will allow the three regulated states to share liquidity and combine player pools. The present law only allows New Jersey poker players to compete with others in the state. Delaware and Nevada already had a shared liquidity agreement, but adding the Garden State changes everything.

New Jersey has far and away the largest online gambling market in the United States. That could all change if other states such as California and New York pass legislation, although that doesn’t appear a likely scenario, at least for the foreseeable future.

What’s in the Agreement?

Governor Christie has been trying to make New Jersey a hotbed for online gambling and sports betting. He helped the state legalize internet gambling in 2013 and attempted to push through a bill to bring legal sports betting in his home state.

In an attempt to generate more revenue, Christie believes partnering with other regulated states will do the trick.

New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada will share poker site player pools and revenue. The deal permits operators to set up a server in any of the three states and service customers within those states. In the past, for example, a New Jersey gaming operator was only permitted to host a server in Atlantic City.

“New Jersey has been a pioneer in the development of authorized, regulated online gaming, which has been a budding success since its launch in late 2013,” Governor Christie said. “Pooling players with Nevada and Delaware will enhance annual revenue growth, attract new consumers, and create opportunities for players and Internet gaming operators. This agreement marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for online gaming, and we look forward to working with our partners in Nevada and Delaware in this endeavor.”

Slot Players Will Benefit

There is another part of the deal that doesn’t impact poker but will benefit slot players. With the shared liquidity agreement, players in each of the three aforementioned states will have an opportunity to compete for a shared progressive jackpot on certain progressive slot machines.

Casino games that are offered on cross-states sites will need to be approved by each individual state before launch. According to a press release, this part of the deal still needs to be worked out.

Online Poker Shared Liquidity Ratio

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