Is Online Poker Legal In The USA

Online poker is but one Americas favorite pastimes but recent developments many Americans still ponder whether playing poker on the web is actually legal or otherwise not. I am not a legal professional and still have no legal background but I did lots of research for this topic and domino99 also have made my personal conclusions.

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

The UIGEA is a huge controversial law since it passing. In short the law makes it illegal for Banks and also other loan companies to knowing process payments when considering gambling from United States residents. The Act excluded lotteries and fantasy sports as well as games of skill. Initially it turned out considered that internet poker would not be effected by the bill as numerous viewed poker like a skill game. Unfortunately, because so many poker players know, the Department of Justice considered poker gambling and enforced regulations with the indictment of the owners of some from the largest poker online sites that still accepted Americans. Poker sites like Full Tilt, Poker Stars, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet were the first one to fall. Subsequent online poker rooms would also later be indicted yet others thought we would leave the US market.

With all that said, does the UIGEA really make playing internet poker illegal? The simple and short answer is no. The law applies just to the finance institutions and poker online rooms. Nowhere in the law should it state that any person who plays poker online is breaking what the law states. Nor will it claim that making deposits and withdraws from poker sites are illegal. The onus is on the banks and poker sites to stick to what the law states.

So how do some poker rooms still accept USA players? Many the poker room take the stance that because they are licensed and regulated in countries outside of the United States and they also do not need to abide from 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 the near future we will see full damaging on-line poker inside the United States. Some states have already passed bills allowing poker online within their state borders. With such progress hopefully to view poker regulated in a national level soon.