PokerStars, PokerStars Casino and FOX Bet Sportsbook will not be available in Michigan on Monday, Dec. 12, and Tuesday, Dec. 13.
The scheduled outage will be to implement major upgrades to the sites in both Michigan and New Jersey.
These upgrades will prepare PokerStars MI for the upcoming combined online poker player pools in Michigan and New Jersey.
PokerStars, Fox Bet upgrades
PokerStars sent out a tweet Friday announcing the scheduled maintenance. Emails were also sent to PokerStars and FOX Bet MI customers.
🚨 Attention MI and NJ players 🚨
Please plan accordingly. pic.twitter.com/E07Cmyv2mh
— PokerStarsUSA (@PokerStarsUSA) December 9, 2022
Citing the “bigger prize pools (and) guarantees in poker tournaments” is a pretty clear sign the upgrade is meant to combine the online poker player pools in Michigan and New Jersey.
Fox Bet’s customer email went further, adding “so New Jersey and Michigan poker players can compete against one another in the near future.”
NJ poker player Jeremy Sissman (@PokerJermz) posted confirmation on Twitter that the plan for Michigan to join the interstate poker compact is imminent. Sissman included the following PokerStars message to customers in a tweet Friday afternoon:
Interstate poker compact waiting on operators
The Michigan Gaming Control Board signed onto the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement in May. While that was the major hurdle for Michigan players being able to compete against online poker players from other states, there was still more to do.
Before Michigan players could be dealt in, however, poker platforms would have to complete a series of steps and be authorized by the MGCB.
An official date still hasn’t been announced, but this move by PokerStars no doubt puts us closer.
Stars Casino rebranded to PokerStars Casino
Stars Casino is now known as PokerStars Casino, a change that happened within the past week. Customers may have noticed the change already within the app.
Odawa Casino is the Michigan partner of the brand, and with Fox Bet serving as the sportsbook, it was carrying three different names.
