After years of waiting for something to happen that would boost Pennsylvania online poker, two major events have taken place within weeks of each other. The most highly anticipated occurrence was that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro finally instructed the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to move forward with the signing of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), which the PGCB then voted unanimously to do. This means that sites like WSOP, BetMGM, and PokerStars will be able to join their Pennsylvania player pools with those in states like New Jersey and Michigan (and Nevada for WSOP). Player pools, game selection, and tournament guarantees will all improve and increase when this finally comes together, possibly as soon as 2025.
The other event was something that many players didn’t know they needed. BetRivers Poker launched a new online poker site in Pennsylvania.
What is BetRivers?
BetRivers is the online gambling project associated with Rivers Casino, of which there are two in Pennsylvania – Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and Rivers Casino Philadelphia. In a regulated online gaming state like Pennsylvania, a licensed online gaming site must partner with a land-based gambling property. Rivers properties signed on with Rush Street Interactive.
While Rush Street Interactive may not be a household name, it’s online poker platform may be familiar: Run It Once Poker.
Galfond’s Passion Project
Longtime poker pro Phil Galfond created Run It Once Poker, an online poker site for players and by players. Galfond was not only a son of the poker boom, a high-stakes online pro who made millions on sites like Full Tilt Poker, he was also an integral part of the team that created Run It Once poker training. With all of the knowledge he accrued, he combined that with his passion for the game and worked for years to create Run It Once Poker. His first public posts about the site came in 2016, followed by first looks and public polls in 2018 and then the launch.
Ultimately, however, the global online poker market was not ready for Run It Once Poker, not in numbers that could support its continuation. Galfond had to make the gut-wrenching decision to shutter its virtual doors in January 2022. Galfond closed Run It Once Poker.
RSI Buys RIO
Just months after the painful decision to shut down Run It Once (RIO) as a global poker site, Galfond revealed that Rush Street Interactive (RSI) acquired the site – its software platform and the team that ran it.
Rush Street was a US igaming and sports betting company that launched in 2015 as a social gaming site partnered with Rivers Casinos in numerous states. With a platform that included various forms of igaming and sports betting, Rush Street began to launch in legal, state-regulated markets like New Jersey, New York, Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and more. And with the purchase of the Run It Once software, it was preparing to offer online poker, too.
The first sign of poker from Rush Street was in mid-2023, when Delaware chose the company for its igaming platforms. Delaware, which had run on 888poker software and in a soft affiliation with WSOP since it started running poker in 2013 for its three connected land-based casino properties, did not renew its contract with that software provider in 2023. It took bids from other companies and ended up awarding the new contract to Rush Street. Hope abounded that players in Delaware would be the first to see Run It Once in the US market in 2024. However, there was no launch. There was never even a peep about testing or a possible launch date.
Oh, Hello, Pennsylvania
In September of this year, Pokerfuse broke the news that BetRivers Poker was in the process of a closed soft launch, confirmed by the PGCB. A private group was participating in testing to provide feedback so the operator could work out any bugs. In mid-October, Pokerfuse revealed that the testing was in its final round.
On October 31, BetRivers Poker launched its Pennsylvania online poker site.
Galfond has been intimately involved in bringing his RIO Poker to the US market, and his social media posts provide some insight into that. Even more, his investment in creating a successful site that stands out from the competition is evident in many aspects of the site but none more than the rake and rewards components of the site.
In some places, rake has reached levels I never imagined when I started playing online poker.
Many players want it back where it was.
Not me.
I want it lower.
Here’s my idea: https://t.co/c2Wa4B39mB pic.twitter.com/KlHkwONVT4
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) November 3, 2024
Run, Rush, Rake, Revolution
This is the name of the post on the BetRivers poker platform written by Galfond. He outlined his journey with RIO Poker on its own and then with RSI, which now manifests itself in the BetRivers Poker launch in Pennsylvania.
Galfond then demonstrated the transparency he values by discussing how to maximize online poker revenue for the operator (by making it a necessary part of the igaming package and using a healthy dose of cross-promotion) while doing what’s best for both pro and amateur poker players alike. The primary topic he explored was two-fold:
- Rake: Players want lower rake but must support sites with the lowest rake.
- Net Rake: Rake minus player rewards doesn’t leave much profit, but incentives attract and retain players to help other igaming verticals.
Galfond pitched an idea to make it all work for the brand while giving players maximum benefits. He has three months to make it successful enough for the powers-that-be to greenlight it going forward.
More Competition is Better
All of this happening in a state that is not currently signed on to MSIGA. And BetRivers is entering a market that is not only full of three very experienced operators – PokerStars, WSOP, and BetMGM – it is a late entry to a market in which many players have already picked their favorite platform. With that in mind, let’s get into some of the questions that many in the industry might ask.
- Can a standalone Pennsylvania online poker market support the number of poker sites available there now? No. But with the multi-state liquidity process in motion and the expansion of sites across PA state lines, the market should welcome another player – so to speak – in the game. BetRivers appears primed for multi-state connections.
- How can BetRivers gain an edge? Run It Once Poker via Rush Street Interactive is the only approved poker site licensed in Delaware and will be for the length of the contract. This enables the operator to launch in Delaware and connect it to other states, maximizing the player base – small as it may be – to its full potential.
- Did it wait too long to launch? Other operators have had years to build a player base, to earn the trust of regulators and players alike, to build a brand that the population of those states recognize. BetRivers and RunItOnce in other states will need to make a splash to stand out, but it seems prepared to do that.
- What is Galfond’s role? The site is his baby, his passion project that he built with his own money, years of his life and his family’s support and sacrifice. As one of the most respected members of the poker community with a broad reach, Galfond’s personal touch is something valuably unique about RIO and RSI.
As with most projects, this will require a lot of “wait and see” patience from the community, not to mention support if they want to see it succeed.
In the meantime, Galfond and others will be livestreaming some BetRivers Poker from the state of Pennsylvania, giving everyone a chance to see what the newest online poker site in America is all about.