Interstate player pooling a priority as Michigan closes in on online poker launch Eric Raskin, MiBets · June 28, 2020 at 12:48 pm As Michigan legislators attempt to fast track the implementation of the online gaming legislation that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law last December, one gambling vertical is in the process of receiving a crucial clarification. State Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., a Democrat, was one of the driving forces behind the Lawful Internet Gaming Act, and now he’s planning to introduce a bill clarifying that the online poker included in that legislation can include multi-state player pools. Hertel’s proposed language reads, “The Michigan Gaming Control Board may enter into agreements with other jurisdictions, including Indian tribes, to facilitate, administer, and regulate multijurisdictional internet gaming for poker by internet gaming operators to the extent that entering into the agreement is consistent with state and federal laws and if the internet gaming under the agreement is conducted only in the United States.”