Rush Street Interactive (RSI) appears to be preparing to launch BetRivers Poker in Pennsylvania, alongside a connected network that will include Michigan and New Jersey, pokerfuse can exclusively reveal.
For more than a year, pokerfuse has reported on the incremental progress RSI has been making toward an eventual launch of a multi-state online poker network. A launch is still expected before the end of 2024, and we continue to predict that Michigan and New Jersey should be the first states to get BetRivers Poker under a single multi-state network. Delaware, where RSI has a monopoly on igaming, could also be in the initial group.
Up to this point, RSI’s plans in Pennsylvania have been a mystery. While the Keystone State is the largest market for regulated real money online poker in the US, it’s also a segregated one. Despite the fact that Rush Street Gaming, an affiliate of RSI, owns two brick-and-mortar casinos in the state, the conventional thinking is that the state isn’t appealing because the Pennsylvania online poker market is segregated and saturated with four rival online poker rooms.
But now, that calculus appears to have been flipped on its head — pokerfuse can share that it looks like BetRivers Poker in Pennsylvania is indeed in the works, despite the market’s aforementioned shortcomings. Comments by David Grubb, poker room manager for Rivers Casino Philadelphia, strongly suggest that Chicago-based RSI aims to launch in Pennsylvania too. Such a launch could also add momentum to efforts to get Pennsylvania to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), a multi-state gaming compact that supports online poker.
Preparing for a Launch of BetRivers Poker PA
Poker players in Pennsylvania are no doubt already familiar with the BetRivers brand. After all, it’s been live in the Keystone State for sports betting since June 2019. BetRivers Casino PA launched in January 2020. BetRivers operates under the license of Rivers Casino Philadelphia (formerly SugarHouse Casino), but Rush Street Gaming also owns and operates Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.
“BetRivers will be launching online poker in the future,” Grubb said. While there is no official timeframe for when RSI will launch BetRivers Poker, Grubb said progress was being made behind the scenes.
“They’re still working out the details. As soon as we’re ready for any kind of press release, or dates in which we’re going to be launching, we’ll definitely get that out to the community as soon as we hear word. But there’s still a lot of moving parts with that right now.”
Grubb’s comments in the interview with pokerfuse come just days after he posted to social media, asking the online poker community in the Keystone State what they want from the new online poker platform. He confirmed making the posts, adding “I am looking for some feedback.”
In one social media post, Grubb asked, “What could our online poker site do to keep you engaged to play at our brick and mortar room? I have some ideas already but am curious to hear what the community wants.”
Rush Street Gaming rebranded SugarHouse Casino as Rivers Casino Philadelphia in late 2019, but RSI has so far retained SugarHouse Casino PA and SugarHouse Sportsbook PA.
BetRivers Likely Looking to Sign Up Players
On the one hand, RSI deciding to launch BetRivers Poker in Pennsylvania makes perfect sense.
Consider that the Keystone State is the largest market for legal online poker in the US. RSI also has access to two large land-based casinos, in the two largest cities in the state, and those are on opposite ends. And as Grubb alluded, there are strategies for gaming companies like RSI (and Rush Street Gaming) to have online players engage with land-based properties.
Pennsylvania is also no stranger to online poker — far from it. Despite being segregated, the state can still boast that it has had at least four online poker rooms for nearly three years running — BetMGM Poker PA, Borgata Poker PA, PokerStars PA, and WSOP PA. BetRivers Poker PA will likely share the Rivers-Philadelphia license with Borgata Poker PA.
That said, Pennsylvania is a segregated market — operators cannot share liquidity between PA and other states. For that reason, pokerfuse in the past has predicted that launches of BetRivers Poker were more likely in the larger MSIGA states of Michigan and New Jersey. Launches in Delaware and West Virginia have been seen as more likely, compared to Pennsylvania.
But there has been movement toward getting Pennsylvania to join MSIGA. Pokerfuse launched the #GrowPApoker social media campaign three months ago — it included a social media blitz designed to get the attention of key lawmakers and Governor Josh Shapiro. PokerStars PA also held a freeroll on May 7 to support the effort.
It’s unclear if RSI has always intended to launch BetRivers Poker in Pennsylvania, regardless of if it was still a segregated market when a launch finally comes. It’s possible that RSI may consider PA to be at the precipice of joining MSIGA, so the company may have decided to start making preparations — and will sign up players in the interim.
“Once all the states eventually get combined into a big player pool, that has nothing but upside for the community and for the operators,” Grubb said.