Online Poker USA

Like most poker enthusiasts, you might also be concerned about the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling bill last year. Now, what has this bill done in playing poker online in the United States? Does the bill refers to U.S. residents only who play online poker? Firstly, you ought to know that prior to the passage of the Act online gambling was already considered an unlawful game by 11 states of the U.S. Therefore, online poker is included to those deemed illegal by these states. The 11 states namely, Oregon, Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey, Louisiana, Indiana, Nevada, New York, Washington, Wisconsin and South Dakota has deemed online gambling illegal even up to the moment. However, as far as the trial court is concern, no U.S. players have already been accused by gambling online.

In some state like California, they do not consider poker as a form of gambling, but a game playing. And they do not call expert poker players as gamblers, but as expert game players. After the passage of the bill, nothing really changed with the connection to the legitimacy of playing poker. Though it’s illegal in 11 states the law does not necessarily cover the whole United States. If you will think it through, there are still remaining 39 states in the U.S. that legalize online gambling prior to the passage of the Act.

As the name implies it, it does not legalize online gambling. Instead, it banned financial institution in the United States such as banks from tolerating the use of credit cards or electronic fund transfers in online gambling. Therefore, players cannot anymore use these methods in online gambling. And because of this, players are really having hard time transferring money to and from online gambling sites. Even so, there are still several online poker sites that allow U.S. players to participate in ‘real money’ online poker. So, if you are a U.S. resident and some sites have banned you from joining, then don’t worry because there some sites that still welcome players like you.

Anyway, there is still a debate on whether the Act should be implemented or not. After all, these online poker sites are located outside the U.S. Therefore, how can the law of the U.S. be applicable to them? Now, to answer the question, is playing online poker permissible in the U.S.? Absolutely yes, except in the 11 states of course!