Run It Once Approaches US Launch As Poker Goes Offline in Delaware
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Online poker players in multiple US states may soon have another site they can play on as Phil Galfond's Run It Once (RIO) is believed to be approaching a US launch.
Pokerfuse reported this week that Rush Street Interactive (RSI), which bought RIO in 2022, has "been recruiting poker executives for over a year" and referenced previous job postings on LinkedIn and "two key job openings show that the launch of Run It Once Poker USA might not be far away."
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RSI is a leading online gaming operator that develops online gaming products in regulated markets. Galfond's RIO struggled to compete internationally against top dogs like PokerStars and GGPoker and ceased operations to focus on the US.
"Rush Street Interactive offers RIO a lot — gaming licenses in multiple US states and other jurisdictions, large casino and sportsbook player bases, experience in building huge poker and other gaming platforms, to name a few," Galfond told PokerNews in 2022.
Approaching US Launch
Nearly two years after the sale of RIO, it appears a US launch is on the horizon. In November, RSI posted two poker-related job openings for its Malta Office.
The first role is a Director of Poker Room Management position that "oversees critical aspects of the poker room including rake, policies, and game offerings while ensuring we have a healthy poker ecosystem and safe games," while the second role is a Director of Poker Marketing position to "lead our marketing efforts for our poker vertical, bringing their expertise in this area of the industry to drive the business forward."
Pokerfuse predicted that RIO will launch "in at least Michigan and New Jersey" in the first half of 2024.
Delaware Poker Goes Offline
In another development, Delaware's three online poker sites went down in December 2023 after the Delaware Lottery switched its exclusive online iGaming partner from 888Poker to RSI.
While this is undoubtedly bad news for online poker players in Delaware in the short term, it also hints at an RIO launch in the First State, which is aptly nicknamed as it was the first state to pass online gambling legislation in 2012.
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