The legality of online poker in the United States varies according to your jurisdiction. Contrary to what some sources might have you believe, no federal law specifically forbids online poker. State laws, on the other hand, might or might not, depending on the state. Only one state (Washington) has a specific law explicitly forbidding online poker, while only Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have legalized and regulated it.

1. Will Online Poker Be Legal In Usa Free
2. Is Real Money Online Poker Legal In Usa
3. Will Online Poker Be Legal In Usa Now

Legal Online Poker in the USA. Six states have legalized online poker. Out of those, four currently have sites up-and-running. Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Two more states legalized online poker but are still working on setting things up. West Virginia, legalized online poker in 2019. Legal real money online poker in the USA is our another topic to talk about. Many potential players mistakenly believe that it is illegal to play in the US. This is not true! Very few states have laws on books covering online pokery, and it is therefore very legal to play in the comfort of their home in almost every US state and region. The online poker site was responsible for providing the WSOP Main Event winner in 2003 – Chris Moneymaker – and from there grew to be the biggest poker site in the United States following Party Poker´s withdrawal from the US market due to the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. Currently, online poker can be played legally by all 50 states in some form at various websites, and it's important for players to understand the options that are out there for them. We do our best to talk about the topic of playing online poker legally in the U.S., and educating our readers about the process to do so. There is another lawful online poker option for some – but not all – American residents: unraked cyber 'home' games. In certain states, playing an unraked poker game for money is kosher.

Our goal is to provide the facts about where you can play poker online legally in the United States. You should know up front that our site isn't run by lawyers or anyone with any kind of governmental authority. If you need actual legal advice, you should contact an attorney. The information provided here is for educational and entertainment purposes only. We're not responsible for anything that happens based on your use of the information here.

That being said, the information here is accurate and reliable to the best of our knowledge.

Washington State

We thought it would be a good idea to get this out of the way right away. It is illegal to play poker online for money in the state of Washington.

The state of Washington passed a law in 2006 making online poker a felony. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars responded by no longer offering services to residents of that state, but they continued to operate in the rest of the country. If you live in the state of Washington, it's a crime to play poker online for money. In fact, it's a serious crime. Our advice to poker players in Washington state is to not play poker on the Internet.

We don't know why the state of Washington has taken such a draconian stance against Internet poker, but if you live there, it's probably best not to play, even if you can find a site which would accept you as a player.

Games of Skill vs. Games of Chance

The amount of controversy surrounding whether or not it's legal to play poker on the Internet in the United States is strange, especially in light of the similarities between the game and the free market system, which is one of the cornerstones of the American way of life. Poker is even commonly called 'America's card game.' Expert players consider it a mind sport. Even the general public considers poker a sport; that's why it's the subject of televised events on ESPN, a TV channel that specializes in sports programming and reporting.

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In August, 2012, Judge Jack B. Weinstein, a federal judge in Brooklyn, ruled that poker is predominantly a game of skill rather than chance. The reasoning is that the money doesn't flow to the luckiest players at the table, at least not in the long run. In the end, the most skilled players win the most money. The skills used in poker include reading other players, concealing your own intentions, and evaluating the odds that your hand is the best.

According to Judge Weinstein, 'The most skillful professionals earn the same celestial salaries as professional ballplayers.'

Of course, this doesn't mean that playing poker doesn't constitute gambling, at least not colloquially. What makes a game 'gambling' is the activity of betting money. Skill becomes a consideration from a legal standpoint, though. In many jurisdictions, contests of skill are treated dramatically different from games of pure chance.

You might be the best poker player in the world, but on any given hand, you face an element of risk. The same holds true for other bettors who use skill to get an edge. Blackjack card counters, expert video poker players, and skilled sports handicappers all sometimes lose.

The Interstate Wire Act of 1961

Does the Wire Act make online poker illegal?
The Interstate Wire Act of 1961, sometimes called 'the Federal Wire Act', was passed in September, 1961 in an attempt to thwart organized crime.

In 2005, the Justice Department sent threatening letters to Internet publishers and broadcasting companies, including Google, Yahoo, and Infinity Broadcasting. Their contention was that accepting advertising from companies involved in online gambling was 'aiding and abetting' illegal activities. They used the Interstate Wire Act as justification for this.

In December, 2011, The Justice Department reversed their position, stating that the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 only applies to sports betting, not to poker.

So the short answer, until the Supreme Court rules otherwise, is no, the Wire Act does not make online poker illegal.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006

Does UIGEA make online poker illegal?
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) was passed as part of the Safe Ports act. The law made it a federal crime to accept payments connected with illegal Internet gambling. It did not define 'illegal Internet gambling', and since the Wire Act only applied to sports betting, no federal law makes it illegal to play poker on the Internet for money.

Is Real Money Online Poker Legal In Usa

So the short answer again is no, UIGEA does not make online poker illegal unless state laws make it illegal (which they seem to do in the vast majority of the states).

As a practical matter, though, UIGEA has made life harder for online rounders. Some companies, including Pacific Poker, Paradise Poker, and Party Poker, stopped accepting real money players from the United States. Other companies, including Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and the Cereus Poker network, continued to accept players from the United States. Eventually, even those companies had to capitulate to the prevailing anti-gambling sentiment from the current U.S. governmental regime.

Black Friday

Did the events of Black Friday make online poker illegal?
In 2011, an estimated 2 million Americans played online poker for money on a regular basis. On Friday, April 15, 2011, The Justice Department eliminated most of this play when it shut down the three most trafficked poker sites (Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker, and the Cereus Network) with charges of money laundering and fraud. The US government contended that the companies had violated UIGEA, but the poker companies operated under the understanding that online poker wasn't illegal and therefore didn't constitute a violation of the act.

The Department of Justice not only seized control of the websites for the three companies, they also froze the assets in 76 bank accounts in 14 countries. Both civil and criminal charges were filed. In July, 2012, the U.S. government dismissed 'with prejudice' the civil complaints, but not the criminal indictments. PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker settled without admitting wrongdoing. As part of the settlement, PokerStars bought Full Tilt Poker.

No, the events of Black Friday didn't make online poker illegal, but they had a chilling effect on the actual play. The industry still hasn't recovered, but there are reasons to be optimistic.

The Poker Player's Alliance

The Poker Player's Alliance (PPA) was founded in Washington D.C. in 2005 as a non-profit political advocacy group to protect the rights of poker players in the US. Their goals include overturning UIGEA and passing legislation legalizing and regulating poker on the Internet. From their about us page, their mission is as follows: 'The PPA's mission is to establish favorable laws that provide poker players with a secure, safe and regulated place to play.'

Multiple bills have been proposed in Congress to amend UIGEA with an exception for online poker and other skill games but none have passed. We encourage the civic-minded members of our readership to visit their site, consider donating, or use their other resources to write to the lawmakers who represent them in the government. If it is the will of the people, safe and regulated online poker can become a reality sooner rather than later.

Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey

Three states, Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey, have passed laws explicitly legalizing and regulating online gambling.

Delaware taxes the first $3.75 million of online gambling revenue in a year at 100%, which means that casinos need to generate a tremendous amount of activity to earn any money from online gambling activities. To legally gamble online in Delaware, a player must be of gambling age and operate their computer (or smartphone/table) within the state. The online poker market there is correspondingly small as a result, but state officials are confident that revenues from online gambling will grow as it catches on there.

Nevada has legalized online poker for two sites: UltimatePoker.com and WSOP.com. These two sites have exclusive rights to run online gambling in the state. As in Delaware, players must be of legal gambling age and operate their computer within the state. Nevada taxes online gambling revenues at the same rate (6.75%) as all other gaming revenue.

Websites offering online gambling in New Jersey are required to have a relationship with a physical casino within the state. They tax this revenue at 15% (compared to the 8% they tax their physical casinos). All gambling activities, including poker, are legal within this context, but revenues have been lower than expected. This disappointment is, at least in part, a result of credit card companies' lack of cooperation in processing these transactions.

These are not the only states where it's legal to play poker. They're just the only states to have laws on the books specifically legalizing the activity and regulating it. In the United States, an activity is legal unless a law prohibits it, so the lack of laws on the books in some states does not equate to the committing of a crime. At least nine other states have proposals to legalize and regulate poker on the Internet.

Can You Legally Play Poker for Money on the Internet in the US?

State laws vary. If you live in the state of Washington, playing poker online for money is a felony. In most cases, general state gambling laws make online poker illegal as well. To our knowledge, no one in the United States has been indicted or convicted of a crime related to playing online poker for money so far. This, of course, might change in the blink of an eye. We recommend that you only participate in online poker if it's legal where you live.

After New Jersey legalized and launched regulated online gambling in 2013, industry analysts thought more states would join the group that already included Nevada and Delaware. While they were correct that many states did consider online poker and gaming legislation, none of those states were able to push the bills over the finish line until late 2017 when Pennsylvania finally did it.

Online poker has proven more difficult an issue than most anticipated. Some states, like California, have considered online poker only, but even as a widely-recognized skill game, online poker was unable to find agreement among all parties in 10 years of consideration.

Most other states have put forth bills with online poker and casino games together, sometimes also paired with daily fantasy sports, because online poker has proven not to be a significant revenue generator on its own (ahem, Nevada). But New Jersey showed that a combined online gaming regime partnered with land-based casino properties was a winning match and has not only helped the entire gambling industry but also seen notable year-on-year growth since its launch. But putting online gaming in front of legislators raises many questions – some moral and others social – that complicate the issue and prevent much forward movement on legalization.

With that said, some lawmakers are absorbing facts and getting educated about the benefits of the industry, mostly courtesy of the stellar example that the New Jersey market has been. And with that in mind, there are some states that are on our watch list for passing 2018 online poker legislation.

Michigan

A state that was considered an underdog until about one year ago is now a top contender to legalize and regulate online poker and casino games in 2018. State Senator Mike Kowall spent time over the last two years garnering support for his bills but ran into conflicts with the state’s tribes. He has been working closely with them for several months to find compromise in order to move forward.

Meanwhile, State Representative Brandt Iden introduced HB.4926 in 2017 and quickly pushed it into a committee hearing in order to start discussions. His optimism has been refreshing, but he is likely running into the same problems as Kowall. His hopes for moving his bill this year are fading as the holidays approach, but he is very likely to continue to pursue his online gaming goals in early 2018.

New York

While on the list of serious possibilities for online gaming over the past few years, New York continues to run into problems with State Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow. Though he has been a sponsor of bills in years past, he has also been the one to stop pursuing them in the latter months of each year due to issues that come to his attention. He has now expressed concerns about the land-based casinos that began operations this year, as their initial revenue numbers have been short of their projections. None of this bodes well for his support of online gambling.

Pretlow from New York: I'm waiting to see how our states' new land-based casinos will do, before jumping into Internet gaming. #igna2015

— Traffic Generation (@Traff_Gen) April 14, 2015

State Senator John Bonacic has been a staunch supporter of online gambling and pushed his bills to passage in the Senate in 2016 and 2017. If he can find a different assemblyman to champion the issue in the other half of the legislature in 2018, there is a good chance that the state will come through. The brick-and-mortar casinos are already struggling to meet their goals, so they will likely help push for online gambling as a revenue booster.

Illinois

In a somewhat surprising move, Illinois had many believing it was close to legalizing online gaming in 2017. In May, the Illinois Senate voted on and passed S.208, a bill to legalize and regulate the games and daily fantasy sports by 42-10. The companion bill in the House, H.479, got stuck in a committee and scheduled hearings never materialized. The bill then came up during the October veto session for consideration but stalled there as well.

Not surprising (online poker is in here too), but this doesn't mean the effort in Illinois is dead. https://t.co/VFfTkFuQPy

— Dustin Gouker (@DustinGouker) November 10, 2017

The good news is that H.479 is still open going into the next session that begins in January, which means no new bills need be introduced. Talks can continue behind the scenes through the next several months, and the committee can schedule a new hearing in early 2018. Since sponsor Representative Michael Zalewski has expressed optimism about the notion of a comprehensive gambling expansion bill to be put forth in 2018, this state will be one to watch closely.

New Hampshire

As New Hampshire finds success from its online lottery sales and watches neighboring New Jersey (and soon Pennsylvania) reap the revenue benefits from online gaming, it is likely to consider legislation again in 2018. Efforts began early in 2017 but never with the seriousness required to educate legislators. The three state representatives who sponsored H.562 this year have another opportunity for hearings and debate in 2018, if they push for debate and consideration early. While H.562 was voted inexpedient to legislate by a unanimous 23-0 vote in late October, this simply indicates that more information is needed in the coming months.

There is a good chance that New Hampshire strongly considers a new bill in 2018.

West Virginia

Several West Virginia delegates expressed support for online gambling in 2017. A group of them sponsored H.3067 in March of 2017 to authorize online gaming via partnerships with the state’s racetracks, but the bill failed to garner the necessary support to move forward. But Delegate Shaun Fluharty, the original sponsor of the legislation, pushed hard and even found support from the director of the West Virginia Lottery Commission. And after Pennsylvania passed its bill in October, Fluharty took to social media to express his desire to see his state follow suit.

With PA passing sports betting, online poker and daily fantasy legislation today, WV must act this session or be left in the dust. #wvpol

— Shawn Fluharty (@WVUFLU) October 26, 2017

While that did not happen this year, there is a high possibility that Fluharty will wrangle support over the winter legislative break and try again in early 2018. He wants to compete with neighboring states on the East Coast, and he understands well the benefits that await his state.

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