- Is Online Poker For Real Money Legal In The Us
- Is Online Poker Legal In The Usa
- Legal Online Poker Real Money
No portion of the online gambling industry in 2021 has taken as much heat, speculation, and scrutiny as that of legal online poker. Entire forums, user groups, and even careers have been made through online poker. The vastness of the industry, the popularity of some of the major sites, and the publicity the industry receives has made it one of the primary targets of debate over whether or not poker is legal under the pretext that it is a game of skill rather than a game of luck. Whenever you hear about the regulation of online gambling, you can almost always assume that the undertone of the proposed legislation is geared toward online poker above any other form of gambling.
Online Poker in the USA Real money online poker is legal in six states in the US right now: New Jersey, Nevada, Michigan, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Gaming regulators in each state are responsible for overseeing the industry, issuing regulations, enforcing the law, and granting licenses to potential operators. Is it legal to play online poker in the USA? State-regulated, real-money online poker is legally available in only a handful of states. Our aims to do many things besides just simplifying the U.S. Gambling laws which deal directly with the practice of playing online poker. Is online poker legal in the United States? Believe it or not, there is no federal law prohibiting it. In addition, no one has ever been charged with playing poker online.
Black Friday
April 15th, 2011, was a rough day for many online poker players. This is the day that the proverbial sky had begun to fall. On April 15th, the Department of Justice seized some of the largest online poker rooms. This includes Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and UltimateBet. On May 23d, the hammer had fallen again - this time taking out DoylesRoom. Dubbed poker's 'Black Friday,' the industry had been left reeling. The Poker Players Alliance, iMEGA, and many professional players had all spoken out against the move, mostly under the impression that the Department of Justice had acted out of line. Unfortunately, the effects of the seizures have left many players without money and many more players without a way to get involved in the World Series of Poker without buying directly into the events in question.
Millions of people all over the United States have joined in on online poker in 2021, and players have been scrambling for a new place to play. With online poker rooms coming and going, it is somewhat difficult to determine which ones are worth using and which ones are not. We have found that some of the poker rooms are attached to businesses that are much larger than only online poker. While a stand-alone poker room could be targeted by the Department of Justice fairly easy, it is unlikely that a major gambling business, such as Bovada, would ever get targeted.
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BetOnline Poker Room
When it comes to online poker, BetOnline is part of the cake poker network. BetOnline offers their users a solid set of games and bonuses, all of which are finely tuned to help both amateur and professional players alike. They offer a series of bonuses, including step and satellite tournaments to the World Series of Poker's main event. They offer their users a 15% or 25% match to $1,000 on every deposit, which is one of the better bonuses around. BetOnline uses strong poker software which is tested and certified to be fair by independent 3rd parties. In the end, this poker room will provide you with a way to play various mixed games, Omaha, Texas Hold 'em, stud and draw games. As one of the more complete poker rooms out there, BetOnline will offer you a solid gaming experience.
25% - $1,000
ALL STATES
We cannot guarantee you will win in these poker rooms, but we can guarantee you one thing - a fair game play experience. In the event that you want to play online poker, you will be entitled to play some of the more exciting games online. Though not everyone becomes rich by playing online poker, you will definitely have a chance at earning real money if you stick to a reputable online poker room. If you have any degree of luck, you could very well walk away a winner by using any of the US legal online poker rooms.
FAQ's About Online Legal USA Online Poker
1) How has Black Friday affected those who play online poker?
Black Friday has shut down many online poker rooms, but this has not caused the industry to just stop. There are still many options available as playing online does not violate any of the online poker laws. These online poker rooms operate outside of the United States, but are the some of the best in the world.
2) Some players have not received their money from the online poker rooms that have shut down. How do I know this will not happen to me?
It is unlikely that none of these players will receive their money, but we can tell you that the sites we have put out here are some of the world's most trusted sources of gambling. That is arguably the most important part of the relationship between the poker site and player. If the sites did not pay out the winnings to the player, they would quickly go out of business.
3) Can I really enter the World Series of Poker through these online poker rooms?
Yes. Many online qualifiers have won their entry by way of online tournaments. When you visit an online poker site they will tell you if there are World Series of Poker qualifying tournaments coming up. These are legitimate qualifiers, and if you do well, you could be on your way to playing in some of the biggest poker events in the world just like Chris Moneymaker did back in the day.
4) Is it true that online poker rooms will let you play at a younger age than other forms of gambling?
In some states the legal gambling age for poker is lower than it is for casinos or sports betting. If you live in the United States, there will be two ages that you have to abide by. The first is the online poker site's gambling age that they will list. The second is the legal gambling age for players in the state that you live in.
5) How high can the stakes be at some of these poker rooms?
It is not entirely uncommon to find blinds in the $100's or $1,000's. There are plenty of big players out there who enjoy putting thousands of dollars on the line when they sit at these online tables. There can be a ton of money won at online poker sites.
6) How many players are usually on in these online poker rooms?
Some online poker rooms have tens of thousands of active players at any given moment. It really just depends on which site you are on. With online poker being so popular, these sites are more than capable of hosting thousands.
7) My poker bonus wasn't added into my account. Why is that?
Most online poker bonuses are not distributed immediately. For the most part, online poker bonuses are distributed over time as you earn frequent player/VIP points. This rewards players who play at more tables and in more tournaments as the bonus is then handed out.
8) Are there any wagering requirements on legal poker bonuses that are added in instantly?
Generally speaking, you do not have to contend with wagering requirements in the event that you receive an instant play bonus. There are some bonuses that might stipulate some form of a wagering requirement, but for the most part you will not have to worry about that.
9) Do these poker rooms offer a free play style of poker?
Yes. Every online poker room offers free to play card games for fun and for learning. Online poker sites will offers many free tables and tournaments for players who do not yet want to risk real money when they play. And like we said, it can also be utilized as a learning experience and tool, before making the jump to playing for real cash.
10) What assurance is there that these poker rooms accepting USA players are legitimate?
We have tested the poker rooms in order to offer you a completely legitimate experience. We play at these online poker sites ourselves, and would certainly not recommend an online poker site that we do not trust 100 percent. These online poker sites that we have reviewed meet all of our quality expectations.
We have tested the poker rooms in order to offer you a completely legitimate experience.
Online poker has changed a lot since I started playing in the mid-2000s. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by this; after all, it has been close to 20 years.
I thought it would be fun to reflect on some of the changes in online poker, though, so here’s this post with some observations and thoughts about the state of online poker today.
Recreational Poker Online Is Still Alive
On April 15, 2011, the Department of Justice indighted Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker, and PokerStars. These were far and away the biggest three companies offering recreational poker online to United States players.
It didn’t take long for these sites to respond by pulling access to US players to their real money poker games. Online poker had been booming until that point, but it came crashing to a near-halt at that point.
After all, you didn’t have many places left to play.
Absolute Poker, which also owned Ultimate Bet, went out of business soon afterward. PokerStars acquired what was left of Full Tilt Poker, but they still don’t offer real money games to United States players.
This doesn’t mean you can’t play recreational poker online if you’re from the United States. Many – if not most – online poker sites will let anyone play their “free money” or “play money” games regardless of where they live. Global Poker is one of the biggest outfits specializing in play money poker, and they have a unique sweepstakes-based poker model that enables them to offer games that are almost just like real money poker games.
But you can also find a handful of sites still offering real money poker for recreational players in almost any jurisdiction. These are usually attached to a sportsbook of some kind, like Bovada.
In some of these states, recreational poker online for real money is still new. I expect more states to follow suit, which will expand the availability of online poker for actual cash.
The Offshore Poker Sites Accepting United States Players
Presumably, the United States government was acting to protect gamblers from shady offshore gambling sites that were going to take their money. Their legal action had the opposite of the intended effect, though.
When you outlaw the operation of an online poker site, only outlaws offer online poker.
Of course, there’s honor among thieves, but it’s hard to beat the kind of reliability and trustworthiness you saw from operators like PokerStars.
Of course, the newly legalized and regulated poker sites in the states I mentioned in the last section are trustworthy and reliable.
But as I write this, only five states have legalized and regulated online poker.
Poker players in the other 45 states only have a couple of options when it comes to online poker.
They can skip it entirely and just play in person. This is increasingly unrealistic as I write this in the middle of a pandemic.
Or they can roll the dice and play at one of the offshore sites that have so far managed to evade US law enforcement.
Some of these sites are reliable and pay out in a timely manner. They offer excellent customer service, too. Bovada is a good example of this.
But it behooves you to proceed cautiously.
When Black Friday rolled around before, many poker players had tens of thousands of dollars tied up in online poker accounts and had to wait months before getting their cash. I know one player who had over $100,000 in his PokerStars account.
I’m not the only one who’s noticed that you should be cautious with online poker from the United States these days. In fact, you’ll see a noticeable shortage of high stakes poker games happening online that are available to United States players.
Is Online Poker For Real Money Legal In The Us
It’s Not as Bad as It Might Seem
You might think that player pools are really small since the state gambling laws with legal poker restrict play to people playing from a computer in their state.
But this year they created an interstate agreement — a “compact” – which allows them to share player pools between the following states:
The other states that have legalized online poker are mostly still setting things up. I’m assuming they’ll enter into the compact with the other states. After all, that’s good for everyone participating. Larger player pools mean more action.
And that means more tax revenue for everyone involved.
Is Online Poker Legal In The Usa
Also, and just because I’ve characterized many of these poker companies as “outlaws,” who do you think are running the poker sites in the states that have recently legalized online poker?
Many of them are sites that used to offer poker “illegally” from offshore. Yes, that includes Party Poker and PokerStars, among others.
The Poker Bot Scare
I’ve only recently started dipping my toe back into the online poker waters, and I’ve stuck with the play money games for a couple of months. One reason I have trepidations is the rise of online poker bots.
An online poker bot is just software that makes poker decisions on behalf of a player. They’re not actually robots like C-3PO. They’re just programs that run on someone’s computer next to the game they’re playing, and they tell the player what the mathematically best move is. Sometimes they actually make the moves, too.
Legal Online Poker Real Money
You can imagine how helpful a HUD might be. How you handle a bet from someone who’s categorized loose-aggressive by your HUD and how you handle a bet from someone who’s categorized as tight-passive by your HUD might be entirely different.
The idea that someone is using a HUD to beat me scares me.
The idea that someone is using an artificial intelligence to actually play against me scares me even more.
What Do I Do if I Want to Play Online Poker for Real Money?
My suggestion for what to do if you want to play online poker for real money is simple and straightforward:
Stick with low stakes games and only play with money you can afford to lose.
That way you can have fun without trying to earn a living from gambling online.
I don’t have much respect for anyone trying to make their living by running a poker bot on their behalf, by the way. It’s cheating, and nothing angers me more than a cheat.
I even frown on using a HUD during play. I prefer my contests to be a fair test of my abilities versus the abilities of my opponents. If you’re using a computer to help you make decisions, well… I’m not really competing with you anymore, am I.
How much pride can you take in winning a contest against another person when you’re not actually calling the shots yourself?
You might have an entirely different opinion about all these issues, and that’s okay with me, too. I can only advise you based on my own life experience and opinions.
Live Poker Really Is More Fun
I’m a big fan of live poker. You’re less likely to face cheaters. You don’t have to worry about the online cardroom being unable to process your withdrawal because they faced legal action from the US government.
And I’ve played live poker in casinos and in home poker games alike.
If you decide to go the live poker route during the pandemic, I encourage you to take appropriate steps to protect your own safety. Most casinos have strict procedures in place, but home games might be trickier.
Find out beforehand if masks are allowed and/or required. I won’t be playing in any games without masks, personally.
Also, if I do play in a home poker game, I’m going to bring a big bottle of hand sanitizer with me.
If the host is willing to open the windows and limit the number of players – even better.
Conclusion
The world of online poker in the United States keeps limping along. It might never reach the dizzying heights that it saw during the early 2000s during the poker boom, though.
This doesn’t mean the game is dying out. At least five states have legalized internet poker, and I expect more to follow.
And even if you live in a state that hasn’t legalized online poker, you have options.