Is Online Poker Legal In The USA

Online poker is a Americas favorite pastimes however with recent developments many Americans still wonder if playing poker on the web is actually legal or not. I am not legal counsel and possess no legal background but I did plenty of research for this topic and also have made my very own conclusions.

In 2006, the United States passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act or UIGEA. The bill was coupled to the Safe Ports Act and was overwhelmingly passed into law. This was the task of two US Senators whom wished to end online gambling within the United States.

The UIGEA has become a controversial law ever since it passing. In short legislation can make it illegal for Banks as well as other banking institutions to knowing process payments when considering gambling from United States residents. The Act excluded lotteries and domino qq fantasy sports in addition to games of skill. Initially it was believed that online poker wouldn't be effected from the bill numerous viewed poker like a skill game. Unfortunately, as most poker players know, the Department of Justice considered poker gambling and enforced the law using the indictment of the those who own some of the largest internet poker sites that still accepted Americans. Poker sites like Full Tilt, Poker Stars, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were the first to fall. Subsequent poker online rooms would also later be indicted yet others made a decision to leave the US market.

With everything that said, does the UIGEA really make playing on-line poker illegal? The simple and short fact is no. The law applies just to the financial institutions and internet poker rooms. Nowhere in the law does it claim that any person who plays poker online is breaking legislation. Nor does it suggest that making deposits and withdraws from poker sites are illegal. The onus is on the banks and the poker room to abide by what the law states.

So how must some the poker room still accept USA players? Many poker rooms take the stance that as they are licensed and regulated in countries away from United States and so they do not need to abide with the UIGEA. For this reason they still accept existing and new USA poker players. This is a very "grey" area of the law but hopefully inside near future we will see full regulating internet poker inside the United States. Some states have already passed bills allowing on-line poker in their state borders. With such progress hopefully to find out poker regulated in a national level soon.