The expansion of legal gambling continues across the United States. The state of Ohio approved four casinos, and there’s already evidence that the new casinos in Cleveland and Toledo are pulling customers away from casinos in Detroit, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Las Vegas has all sorts of problems as they no longer attract as many high rollers, but as more casinos open across the country that has to have an impact as well.

In Illinois, the state will be rolling out the first legal video poker machines to offer payouts to customers. Now, not everyone in the state will be able to play in their immediate neighborhood, as many local areas including Chicago have their own laws restricting the games. But obviously the new poker games will just be a car ride away for most residents, so expect this to find a market as well. Of course for years poker fans could just look up an online poker guide to find the most popular poker sites and play in the comfort of their own home.

In some ways, all of this just keeps making poker more popular as a game, and that’s good for the entire industry. More players means a bigger pie for everyone to share. But the companies and outlets sharing the pie might be growing faster than the number of new players.

it will be fascinating to see how all of this plays out. With the feds saying they have no jurisdiction here, we could be another round of expanding interest in poker, one of the great all-time games of skill, and many companies can benefit from this.